Wood for the trees: A review of the Agarwood (Gaharu) trade in

Transcription

WOOD FOR THE
TREES :
A REVIEW OF THE
AGARWOOD
(GAHARU) TRADE IN
MALAYSIA
LIM TECK WYN
NOORAINIE AWANG ANAK
A REPORT
COMMISSIONED BY THE CITES SECRETARIAT
Published by TRAFFIC Southeast Asia,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
© 2010 The CITES Secretariat.
All rights reserved.
All material appearing in this publication is copyrighted
and may be reproduced with permission. Any reproduction
in full or in part of this publication must credit the
CITES Secretariat as the copyright owner.
This report was commissioned by the CITES Secretariat.
The views of the authors expressed in this publication do
not however necessarily reflect those of the CITES Secretariat.
The geographical designations employed in this publication,
and the presentation of the material, do not imply the
expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the
CITES Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country,
territory, or area, or its authorities, or concerning the definition
of its frontiers or boundaries.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The TRAFFIC symbol copyright and Registered Trademark
ownership is held by WWF. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of
WWF and IUCN.
Suggested citation: Lim Teck Wyn and Noorainie Awang Anak
(2010). Wood for trees: A review of the agarwood (gaharu) trade
in Malaysia
TRAFFIC Southeast Asia,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
ISBN 9789833393268
Cover: Specialised agarwood retail shops have proliferated in
downtown Kuala Lumpur for the Middle East tourist market
Photograph credit: James Compton/TRAFFIC
Wood for the trees : A review of the
agarwood (gaharu) trade in Malaysia
Lim Teck Wyn
Noorainie Awang Anak
James Compton/TRAFFIC
A report commissioned by the CITES Secretariat
Agarwood oil is often sold pure, or blended with
other fragrances, known as attars
Matching funds for this project were provided by UK Foreign
and Commonwealth Office’s Global Opportunities Fund (via the
British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur)
CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS & GLOSSARY
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
vii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
viii
BACKGROUND
Introduction
Taxonomy, distribution and conservation status
Harvest
Legislation governing harvest
Trade and use
CITES and Agarwood (gaharu)
Malaysian legislation governing trade
Economics
Price trends
The value chain
1
1
3
9
13
18
23
24
27
27
28
METHODS
31
RESULTS
Harvest
Enforcement
Trade and use
Domestic market
International trade
Development of the gaharu industry in Malaysia
31
31
39
39
43
46
57
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Indicators of the research
Sustainability of the gaharu trade in Malaysia
Development of a CITES Non Detriment Finding (NDF) methodology
Implementation and Enforcement of CITES
Enforcement of State Enactments by Customs
60
60
60
61
62
65
RECOMMENDATIONS
66
REFERENCES
70
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Agarwood-Producing Species Native to Malaysia
Appendix 1a: Specimens of Agarwood-Producing Species from the States of Malaysia
in SEABCIN Herbaria
Appendix 2: Vernacular names for agarwood and agarwood-producing species in Malaysia
84
85
Wood for the trees : A review of the agarwood (gaharu) trade in Malaysia
86
87
ii
Appendix 3: Laws
Appendix 4: Places
Appendix 5: Enforcement
Appendix 6: Decisions of the 13th and 14th Conference of the Parties to CITES
Appendix 7: Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) and CITES
Appendix 8: Information on seizures by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks,
Peninsular Malaysia
89
93
96
104
106
108
iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS & GLOSSARY
ad valorem
bdellium
Bendahara
BNBCC
Cap.
CHP
c.i.f
CITES
Com.
CoP
d.b.h.
DWNP
DER
Doc
Dyaks (Dayak)
e.g.
EDP
EDT
En.
et al.
f.o.b
FRIM
g.b.h.
gaharu
gaharu merupa
ha
HS
Hulu
IDEAL
in litt.
Inf
INCI
IUCN
JNPC
kg
kris
l
lignum resinatum
LIV
m³
MTC
Merdeka
value based
A tree, especially of the genus Commiphora, yielding a fragrant gum resin
vice regent of a Malay Sultan
British North Borneo Chartered Company
chapter
chips
cost insurance and freight
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and
Fauna
Communication
Conference of Parties
diameter at breast height (diameter at 1.3 m above ground)
Department of Wildlife and National Parks
derivatives
document
indigenous tribes of Borneo
exempli gratia (for example)
Eau de Parfum (perfume water)
Eau de Toilette (toilet water)
enactment
et alia (and others)
Freight on Board
Forest Research Institute Malaysia
girth at breast height (girth at 1.3 m above ground)
agarwood
agarwood pieces with unusual shapes, used as charms
hectare
Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System
up river
IDEAL Time Sdn Bhd
in litterarum (via correspondence)
information
International Nomenclature for Cosmetic Ingredients
International Union for Conservation of Nature
Johor National Parks Corporation
kilogramme
small curvy dagger
litre
resinous wood
live
cubic metres
Malaysian Timber Council
independence
iv
minyak kayu gaharu
MTIB
mukholat
MYR
NFI
No.
oleum
Ops
Orang Asal
Orang Asli
Oudh
PC
pengiran
pers. comm.
picul or pikul
Pt
s
Sch
SEABCIN
SITC
t
Taman Negara
tasbih
Tola
towkay
TRAFFIC
UK
ultra vires
UAE
USD
VU
WG
WWF
agarwood oil
Malaysian Timber Industries Board
gaharu oil mixed with other essential oils
Malaysian Ringgit
National Forest Inventory
number
oil
operasi (operation)
indigenous people (Malaysia)
indigenous people (Peninsular Malaysia)
agarwood
Plants Committee
local chieftain in Borneo
personal communication
a unit of weight equal to about 60 kg
part
section
schedule
South East Asia Botanical Collection Information Network
Standard International Trade Classification
tonne
National Park
rosary beads used by Muslims
11.7 g
middleman
The wildlife trade monitoring network of WWF and IUCN
United Kingdom
beyond the powers of
United Arab Emirates
United States Dollars
Vulnerable
Working Group
World Wide Fund for Nature
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report was initiated and supervised by James Compton who played a key role in facilitating and
coordinating research during his tenure as Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia. The authors also wish to
acknowledge the contributions and guidance of Azrina Abdullah, Chris Shepherd and William Schaedla
who served or acted as directors and Elizabeth John, senior communication officer of TRAFFIC Southeast
Asia during the production of this report.
Much of the research and field work for this report was supported by the team at Resource Stewardship
Consultants Sdn Bhd (RESCU), including Cindy Chen, Lim Tze Tshen, Noor Azura Ahmad and Shahril
Kamarulzaman.
During the research for this report, liaison was maintained with Malaysia's Federal Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment (Datuk Aziyah Mohamed and the late Sivalingam Pillay) as well as the
Malaysian Timber Industry Board (the late Ismail Ibrahim and Nurchahaya Hashim); much assistance was
provided by the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) (Woon Weng Chuen, Lim Hin Fui, Lilian Chua,
Chang Yu Shyun and Nor Azah Mohd. Ali) and the Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia headquarters
(Tuan Marina bt Tuan Ibrahim); field research was assisted by the State Forestry Departments of Kelantan
(Dato’ Hj. Dahlan Hj. Taha) and Sabah (Datuk Sam Mannan), as well as the Maliau Basin Conservation
Area unit of Yayasan Sabah; herbarium access and procedural overviews were provided by the Sarawak
Forestry Corporation (Sani Bakar, Dawend Jiwan and Lucy Chong) as well as the Forest Research Centre
of Sabah Forestry Department (Robert Ong).
Numerous gaharu collectors, traders and processors in Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak were kind enough to
agree to be interviewed for this study; similarly, retailers and exporters based in Bukit Bintang, Kuala
Lumpur were remarkably helpful and hospitable. Insights were shared from numerous individuals
connected with non-governmental organisations, particularly the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns (Colin
Nicholas), Wildlife Conservation Society (Melvin Gumal and June Rubis) and WWF-Malaysia (Surin
Suksuwan and Junaidi Payne). Assistance in reportage and facilitation of the National Workshop was
provided by WildAsia (Reza Azmi).
The following individuals also provided helpful input and feedback of various kinds: Ani Mardiastuti,
Chen Hin Keong, Chong Chin Fah, Eric Hansen, Harban Singh, Henry Heuveling van Beek, Hilary Chiew,
Ismail Mydin, Loo Kean Seong, Masako Ohdoi, Misliah Mohamad Basir, Mohamad Shukry Abdul Hamid,
Robert Blanchette, Roy Goh, Sabri Zain, Salahudin Yaacob, Sylvia Yorath, Tony Soehartono and Wong
Meng Chuo.
Thanks are also due to John Caldwell at UNEP-WCMC for his continuous updates of the CITES trade data
set pertaining to Agarwood trade. James Compton and Tong Pei Sin are thanked for their peer review of
earlier drafts of this report, as well as Steven Broad, Richard Thomas and Julie Gray at TRAFFIC
International for their guidance in preparing the final document.
The authors would also like to thank the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Global Opportunities
Fund (via the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur), and the US Department of State’s Bureau of
Oceans Environment and Science (OES), for the matching funds to support the work on agarwood trade in
Malaysia and South-east Asia. This report was commissioned by the CITES Secretariat (under CITES
Project S-252).
vi
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Agarwood, also known as gaharu, is an important non-timber forest product. As incense, perfume and
medicine, it has been used for hundreds of years by many cultures throughout the world. Today, the
international trade in gaharu involves at least 18 countries and involves hundreds of tonnes worth millions
of US dollars annually. Indeed, due to the growth in the population and affluence of gaharu-consuming
markets (including Taiwan [Province of China], Saudi Arabia, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates), the
demand for gaharu has risen considerably over the past 30 years. However, the increase in demand appears
to have led to diminishing supplies, leading to rising prices and concerns over the future supplies of the
commodity. Furthermore, there are fears that the gaharu trade may drive some gaharu-producing species
to extinction.
In 1995, in order to ensure the sustainability of the gaharu trade, the main gaharu producer and consumer
countries agreed to put in place controls to limit the volume of trade in the main gaharu species. This was
done through the listing of a single species, Aquilaria malaccensis in Appendix II of the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). In 2004, all remaining
species of the Genus Aquilaria, as well as the related Genus Gyrinops, were listed in CITES Appendix II
at the 14th Conference of the Parties to CITES. However, to date there has only been partial
implementation of CITES controls due to the numerous complexities of the nature of the gaharu trade.
These complexities are illustrated by the gaharu trade in Malaysia, an important gaharu-producing nation.
The Malaysian example highlights the fact that there remain numerous challenges to effecting controls on
the gaharu trade on the supply side of the industry. Challenges arise due to the fact that gaharu is not a
uniform commodity: the substance has a highly variable chemical composition and is produced by a wide
variety of tree taxa. In the absence of standard grading rules or species identification procedures, effective
regulation is often frustrated. Furthermore, small quantities of top grade gaharu are easy to conceal and
thus difficult to regulate in trade despite their high value. Due to the complexity of the nature of the species,
the coordination among the various agencies involved in regulating the gaharu industry is particularly
challenging. The challenges include coordination among the various agencies involved in regulating the
various aspects of the gaharu industry. These agencies span several ministries (at both Federal and State
levels) in Malaysia. A degree of coordination is provided by inter-agency committees; however these
committees do not always include all the relevant agencies, or individuals with specific expertise on
gaharu.
In the Malaysia, these many challenges were combined with the fact that there was a significant slump in
the gaharu trade between 1930 and 1970. When the trade picked up in the mid-1970s, gaharu was
classified under “minor forest produce”1 and thus regulation of the harvest, trade and processing of gaharu
was not given priority. However, more recently several sectors of the Malaysian government, at Federal
and State levels, have begun to put greater emphasis on developing industries related to biodiversity and
biotechnology. In this regard, the government has recognised the significant potential for developing
Malaysian gaharu in terms of downstream processing and added-value industries such as perfumery and
1 In accordance with the National Forestry Act 1984.
vii
pharmaceuticals. This recognition has resulted in increased attention regarding the regulation the harvest,
processing and trade in gaharu.
In order to encourage the trend towards increased appreciation and regulation of the gaharu industry both
in Malaysia and globally, the following recommendations are made:To the Federal Government of Malaysia:
1).
The Federal Government of Malaysia should amend the Customs legislation to ensure (i)
that all exports of agarwood chips, oil and powder require the prior issuance of a CITES export permit from
the relevant CITES Management Authority; and (ii) that all relevant wildlife trade legislation from Sabah
and Sarawak is adequately incorporated.
2).
The Malaysian CITES Authorities should monitor the trade in agarwood to ensure that all
trade is carried out in compliance with the requirements of CITES, specifically with relation to the design
and implementation of robust Non-Detriment Finding assessments and adaptive management approaches.
This needs to be carried out not only for Aquilaria malaccensis, but for all agarwood-producing taxa native
to Malaysia.
3).
Malaysia has already derived a basic formula to calculate a ‘cautious quota’ for A.
malaccensis in 2007. Because the information considered for carrying out a CITES NDF, as well as the
setting of any harvest or export quotas, is dependent upon updated information, establishment of a
monitoring and verification system that can guide adaptive responses to changing harvest and trade
dynamics is essential. This could be based upon all relevant Malaysian jurisdictions implementing the socalled Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for agarwood/gaharu.
4).
The Malaysian CITES Scientific Authority should liaise with the State forestry authorities
in Sabah and Sarawak to carry out an inventory of the present standing stock of agarwood trees in those
States. This would build upon the information available in the 4th National Forest Inventory (NFI 4)
collected in the States of Peninsular Malaysia.
5).
The Malaysian CITES Scientific Authority should coordinate a national-level assessment
of the conservation status of all agarwood-producing tree species in Malaysia.
6).
The relevant Malaysian CITES Management Authorities should conduct a study, in
collaboration with Malaysian Customs, of the trade in agarwood/gaharu products (specifically wood chips
and agarwood oil) for personal effects, especially by tourists from the Middle East in order to consider a
value- or volume-based threshold for personal effects exemptions. Efforts in this regard will complement
CITES Decision 14.138, and prepare Malaysia to make substantive inputs to any proposed amendment to
the current Annotation #1 applicable to CITES-listed agarwood-producing taxa.
7).
The relevant Malaysian CITES Management Authorities should institute systematic
cooperation activities with Police and Customs in Malaysia as well as bilateral discussions with counterpart
agencies in neighbouring trading countries with the objective of reducing the illegal trade in agarwood and
supporting the development of a legal and sustainable industry. Such activities will enhance Malaysia’s
already active engagement with its immediate regional neighbours under the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement
viii
Nework (ASEAN-WEN), as well as its commitments under the ASEAN Regional Action Plan on Trade in
Wild Fauna and Flora 2005-2010. In addition, Malaysia’s trade with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi
Arabia, both direct as well as re-exports of Malaysian country-of-origin agarwood from Singapore, should
be given special attention in terms of further developing producer-consumer co-operation.
8).
The relevant Malaysian CITES Management Authorities should liaise with Local
Government Authorities to inventory commercial enterprises selling agarwood/gaharu products in
Malaysia and create awareness among these traders of the requirements of CITES and relevant national and
State legislation in Malaysia.
9).
Malaysia should consider a national register of agarwood industry participants in an effort
to formalise the agarwood trade structure, and assist with more comprehensive monitoring of the trade.
Such a register could also be referenced to licensing systems for harvesters, collectors, processors, vendors
and exporters, depending on the regulations of at State level.
10).
The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities and other Federal bodies should
continue to support initiatives for the establishment of agarwood plantations, but bear in mind the need to
strictly protect representative wild populations as seed sources to preserve genetic diversity. Clear
definitions need to be set for ‘cultivated agarwood’ or plantation-sourced materials, as this is a rapidly
emerging component of future potential supply in Malaysia that would need to be separated from, but
informed by, wild harvest regulations. Such plantations or cultivated production systems should be
registered with relevant Federal and State agencies in order to monitor (eventual) production output and
enable the distinction of cultivated or non-wild sources from wild-harvested agarwood.
To the State Governments of Malaysia:
11).
All States of Malaysia should be encouraged to follow the examples by the States of
Sarawak and Kelantan and begin to regulate the gaharu industry by issuing licences and permits for the
collection of agarwood/gaharu on a sustained-yield basis.
12).
The relevant Malaysian CITES Management Authorities should verify Removal Passes to
ensure that only specimens obtained by licensed or permitted collectors be issued with export permits.
Implementation of the Standard Operating Procedure by all States would strengthen the chain of custody
from forest (point-of-harvest) to point(s) of processing and/or export, and would enable the distinction
between legally and illegally harvested agarwood.
13).
At State level, a verification system for harvesting and supply chain management from
production areas (whether sourced from wild harvest or cultivated stocks), should be carried out by the
relevant CITES MA with the participation of the CITES SA, the State forestry authority and any licensed
harvest/trade participants. Such a system will ensure State-level contributions towards monitoring
national quotas and considerations of non-detriment findings.
14).
The State Forestry Departments should continue with their initiatives for the establishment
of agarwood plantations. In addition, such plantations or cultivations should be registered (including an
iventory of trees and stocks) with relevant Fedeal and State agencies in order to monitor (eventual)
ix
production output and enable the distinction of cultivated or non-wild sources from wild-harvested
agarwood. This should extend to oil distillation and other associated agarwood processing activities.
15).
The State Forestry Departments should explore the possibility of setting up integrated
agarwood complexes where one company can be involved in the licensed collection, manufacturing and
trade in agarwood/gaharu products.
To the Parties to CITES:
16).
The Parties to CITES should consider whether additional agarwood-producing species in
trade, such as Aetoxylon sympetalum which has been stated to be an important source of agarwood/gaharu
in Sarawak, should be included in CITES Appendix II in order to comprehensively harmonise
international trade regulations;
17).
The Parties to CITES should consider whether it would be more appropriate for agarwoodproducing taxa to be included in CITES Appendices under an annotation that specifies chips, oil and
powder as these are the forms of agarwood which dominate international trade – thus enabling the
concentration of enforcement efforts on products where they would be most effective. This
recommendation urges action under the current CITES Decision 14.138;
18).
A glossary of terms should be developed that considers cultural aspects of the agarwood
industry and trade in order to allow better understanding between producers, traders and consumers,
including government regulators. Other definitions that need to be established are agarwood powder/dust,
wood chips, logs, wood pieces, oil, non-timber forest product, incense (as this refers to raw agarwood in
some cultures) and even ‘agarwood’ itself (separate from the tree). This recommendation urges action
under the current CITES Decision 14.140 and Decision 14.142.
x
BACKGROUND
Introduction
Agarwood, aloeswood, eaglewood and gaharu2 are all names for the resinous, fragrant and highly
valuable heartwood produced primarily by Aquilaria species, in the family Thymelaeaceae3. Trade in
agarwood has been recorded for over 2000 years, with primary markets in the Middle East and East Asia
being supplied from sources ranging from the north-east of the Indian sub-continent through continental
South-east Asia and the Indo-Malesian archipelago (Hou, 1960).
Historically, agarwood has been used for medicinal, aromatic4 and religious purposes in Buddhist, Jewish,
Christian5, Muslim6 and Hindu societies. What was a traditional trade for centuries to supply very
specific markets and a relatively limited amount of users has increased dramatically since the 1970s with
economic growth in both the Middle East and North-east Asia consumer markets. This rise in levels of
trade (and by implication, harvest) has given rise to concerns that demand may outstrip sustainable supply
(Barden et al, 2000).
Persistent and possibly increasing demand for agarwood has caused populations of eight Aquilaria species
to decline to the point where they are categorised as Threatened according to 2006 IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species (Hilton-Taylor, 2006). Of these, six are considered at risk from over-exploitation for
agarwood7. Concern over the effect of trade has led to the genus Aquilaria (along with the genera
2 Gaharu is the Malay term for agarwood, and is also used by most Malaysians involved in the trade.This report will refer to the product derived
from agarwood trees as gaharu. Yule and Burnell (1903) provide a detailed etymological treatment of gaharu.
3 There are at least seven genera with species that produce agarwood-like substances, this includes the following: Aetoxylon (Airy Shaw) Airy Shaw;
Aquilaria Lam. (syn. Gyrinopsis Decne.); Enkleia Griff. (syn. Kerrdora Gagnep., Macgregorianthus Merr.); Gonystylus Teijsm. & Binn.; Gyrinops Gaertn.
(syn. Brachythalamus Gilg); Phaleria Jack (syn. Leucosmis Benth.); and Wikstroemia Endl. (syn. Farreria Balf.f. & W.W.Sm.). Not all individual plants of
a particular taxa produce gaharu, the substance being thought to be induced in response to fungal infection (Mohd Parid and Lim (2003)
identified the following fungi as possible agents Aspergillus spp., Botryodyplodia spp., Diplodia spp., and Fusarium spp.).
4 Luca Turin, an acknowledged aromatics expert, has described the scent of gaharu as follows: "It's a drop-dead smell, very complex, honey, fresh
tobacco, spices, amber, cream. … Incredibly strong, first of all. It knocks you over, clubs you like a falling stone. But its vast dimension is what
astonishes: a huge smell, spatially immense, and incredibly complex, a buttery layer as deep as a quarry, entirely animalic in impact, and yet the oudh
itself is not actually an animalic, spicy without being a spice." (Burr, 2002).
5 Mentioned as holy trees, a substance for perfuming beds and garments, a precious spice as well as for embalming the dead (Numbers 24:6;
Proverbs 7:17; Psalms 45:8; Song of Solomon 4:14; John 19:39; Enoch 31:2).
6 An old Malay manuscript (Sal. I 88) notes that Muslim tradition dates gaharu back to Adam (Wilkinson, 1955). Adam was supposed to have
brought a tiny shoot from the Garden and planted it in the land where he lived and died (Lynne, 1994;Anon., 2001).The double-roof of the Kaaba
is said to be supported by three octagonal pillars of Aquilaria wood (Goodrich, 1835); the Hadith state that the Messenger used gaharu for
perfumery and medicine (Sahih Muslim, 'Al-Faz', 27: 5601; Sahih Bukhari, 7:7:611) as well as mentioned that it will be used by the first group of
people to enter paradise (Sahih Bukhari, 4:54:468); the Sunna mention gaharu used for burial rituals (Fiqh-us-Sunnah, 4: 33b); gaharu oil is said to be
applied by Sufis to treat physical and spiritual ailments associated with imbalances in the Third and Forth Stations of the Soul - being those
connected with the 'Pure Spirit' and 'Divine Secrets' (Shaykh, 1985). Gaharu also has an important place in Muslim literature, being mentioned in
the tales of Sinbad the Sailor as well as in the Arabian Nights (e.g. "Gold-dust is dust while it lies untravelled in the mine;And aloes-wood mere fuel
is upon its native ground; And gold shall win his highest worth when from his goal ungoal'd; And aloes sent to foreign parts grows costlier than
gold." Tale of Nur Al-Din Ali and his Son, Alf Laylah wa Laylah (Burton, 1885)).
7 The ecological function of the taxa is not fully known, however Chivers (1980: 329) found that banded leaf monkeys (Presbytis melalophos) eat
the fruit of A. malaccensis and Prevost's squirrels (Callosciurus prevostii) eat the seeds.
1
Gyrinops and Gonystylus) being listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). An Appendix II listing aims to ensure that the trade
is well-regulated, and that it proceeds under a system of permits based on conditions of legality and
sustainability – it is not a trade ban.
TRAFFIC has been monitoring the trade in agarwood since before the CITES listing (Chakrabarty et al.,
1994). The TRAFFIC report Heart of the Matter (Barden et al., 2000) reviewed the state of knowledge of
agarwood use and trade and CITES implementation for Aquilaria malaccensis. The report also provided
individual country reports for the 10 countries known at that time to be either range States for A.
malaccensis and hence likely to be engaged in harvest and trade in agarwood (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia8, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand) as well as Viet Nam, a range
State for A. crassna and possibly other species. Following concerns raised by Barden et al. (2000), the
Conference of Parties to CITES decided that A. malaccensis warranted a formal “Review of Significant
Trade” (CITES Conf. 12.8). TRAFFIC was contracted to carry out this research which reviewed the
biological, trade and other relevant information on the species to identify problems and solutions
concerning the implementation of CITES (Annex 2 of CITES PC14 Doc. 9.2.2).
The Review of Significant Trade came up with specific recommendations for a number of countries,
including Malaysia9, which were then further refined by the Plants Committee (CITES PC14 WG 3.2 Doc
1) – including the need to hold a
consultative workshop on agarwood
trade, and establishing a cautious
national quota for trade in agarwood.
At the fifty-fourth meeting of the
CITES Standing Committee at
Geneva (Switzerland), 2-6 October
2006, it was reported that Malaysia
had complied with most of the
recommendations and steps had been
taken to strengthen and improve the
procedures for licensing the
harvest of, trade in and processing of
Aquilaria spp. However the CITES
Secretariat had not been advised of
the establishment of a cautious
harvest and export quota for A.
malaccensis.
As a result, the
Secretariat proposed that the Standing
Committee recommend that all
Parties suspend trade in all specimens
of A. malaccensis from Malaysia if
An agarwood retail shop in Kuala Lumpur displaying large pieces of
Malaysia did not establish a cautious
agarwood
harvest and export quota (SC54 Doc.
8 Many sections of Barden et al. (2000) dealing with Malaysia were based on the Country Report by Salahuddin (1999).
9 Malaysia became a Party to CITES in October 1977, with the Convention entering into force in January 1978. Past reviews of the
implementation of CITES in Malaysia for tree species include Chen and Perumal (2002) and Lim et al. (2004).
2
42). In response, the Malaysian delegation notified that it had established an export quota of 200 000 kg
of powder and woodchips for 2007 (180,000kg for Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and 20,000kg for
Sarawak)10. However, there were concerns regarding the scientific basis for this quota and the Committee
requested Malaysia to submit a report to the Secretariat explaining how it had established this quota,
stating “If the Secretariat, after consulting with the Plants Committee, is not satisfied with the explanation,
it will issue a Notification to the Parties recommending a suspension of trade in all specimens of A.
malaccensis from Malaysia with effect from 1 January 2007” (SC54 Sum. 8 (Rev. 1) (06/10/06)).
Subsequently on 7 December 2006 Malaysia submitted an explanation which was accepted by the
Secretariat on 11 January 2007.
In support of Malaysia’s response to the Review of Significant Trade and in furtherance of CITES
decisions on the need for more research (CITES Decision 12.71, 13.63) TRAFFIC Southeast Asia was
contracted by the CITES Secretariat to carry out further field research in the trade dynamics of agarwood
in Malaysia, as a major agarwood exporter. This report documents the findings of this research, including
the results of case studies carried out in the three administrative regions of the country: Peninsular
Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
Taxonomy, distribution and conservation status
Taxonomy and etymology
There are 19 plant species native to Malaysia that are thought to produce agarwood (gaharu) (Peninsula:
13 spp., Sabah: 11 spp., Sarawak: 13 spp.) (see Appendix 1). These species belong to five genera:
Aquilaria 7 spp. (trees); Gonystylus 6 spp. (trees); Wikstroemia 4 spp. (shrubs); Aetoxylon 1 sp. (tree);
Enkleia 1 sp. (vine). This report focuses on Aquilaria in general and Aquilaria malaccensis in particular
as this genus is thought to be the most important source of gaharu.
There are numerous vernacular names for agarwood-producing species (see Appendix 2). For example,
in addition to ‘gaharu’, Malay names for Aquilaria spp. include the following root-words karas, tabak,
candan, kepang, and depu. Numerous other names build on these roots, karas yielding angkaras/engkaras,
bengkaras, kekaras, mengkaras, and tengkaras. Reference to some of these names is found in Malay
literature, peribahasa (proverbs) and pantun (quatrains) which mention the collection of agarwood in the
forest and the burning of agarwood as incense (Winstedt, 1950; Anon., 2006c). Numerous place-names
throughout Malaysia have connections with agarwood-producing species (Figure 1a).
10 For calendar year 2008, Malaysia has set export quota levels for A. malaccensis agarwood chips and powder at 170 t for Peninsular Malaysia
and Sabah, and 10t for Sarawak. No quotas are specified for other agarwood-producing taxa.
3
Figure 1a
Places in Malaysia named after agarwood-producing species
Source: Mapped from coordinates obtained from www.earthsearch.net.
Excludes road names:- Jln Gaharu: Johor Baru; Jln Ramin: Sibu, Kota Kinabalu; Lrg Ramin, Limbang; Jln Aquilaria (Bukit Nanas
Forest Reserve), Kuala Lumpur.
Map prepared by Noorainie Awang Anak
Figure 1b
Places in Malaysia mentioned in the text
4
Aquilaria malaccensis in Malaysia
The first agarwood-producing species to be included in Appendix II of CITES was Aquilaria malaccensis
in 1995. This species is the most common Aquilaria species found throughout in Peninsular Malaysia and
Sabah (Whitmore, 1973; Cockburn, 1980). The species is widespread however it does not appear to occur
at particularly high stocking densities (see ‘Conservation status in Malaysia’, below).
However, there has been some historical uncertainty as to whether A. malaccensis is found in Sarawak.
Browne (1955) noted that several species of Aquilaria had been recorded in Sarawak and probably all were
known in the local dialect as gaharu mengkaras. He added that in most parts of Sarawak the double name
was used for the trees, whether they contained the scented wood or not. The trees were of the lowland
forests where they were “not uncommon but by no means abundant”. He speculated that the most
important Aquilaria species in Sarawak was probably A. malaccensis, but added that it was difficult to
identify trees to the species level as they were rarely seen in flower or fruit.
Nevertheless, recent inventories
at Lambir Hills National Park
record A. malaccensis (Lee et
al., 2002). Furthermore, the
Forest Department Sarawak
website (Anon., 2006d) lists
Aquilaria malaccensis as one of
the protected plants of Sarawak,
stating that the species is “rare
but widespread in Sarawak”.
Indeed, the Forest Department
Sarawak website (Anon.,
2006e) states that “the chief
sources [of gaharu in Sarawak]
are Aquilaria malaccensis and
Aetoxylon sympetalum while
other Aquilaria species produce
gaharu of inferior quality”. In
addition, there are at least three
other species of Aquilaria
recorded in Sarawak (see
Appendix 1).
On the basis of limited herbarium collections, Anderson (1980) thought A. malaccensis to be present, but
very rare in Sarawak. Only a single herbarium specimen of A. malaccensis was recorded as coming from
Bt. Mentagai, Marudi, Sarawak (South East Asia Botanical Collection Information Network (SEABCIN)
<herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk> downloaded 4 September 2005). However, this specimen has subsequently
been determined by Tawan (2004) to be Aquilaria beccariana (Forest Department, Sarawak, Herbarium
Specimen No. “S 23015” viewed by LTW on 16 February 2006. Forest Research Centre, Sarawak Forestry
Corporation, Kuching, Sarawak).
High grades resinous agarwood (gaharu) are still harvested from Malaysia,
but in lesser quantities
5
Gaharu buaya
Aquilaria is generally considered to produce the ‘true’ gaharu, with other genera thought to produce
inferior types. In particular, the designation ‘gaharu buaya’ (or ‘crocodile gaharu’) is sometimes used to
distinguish the product of genera such as Gonystylus and Aetoxylon. In Sarawak, A. sympetalum is noted
as being “locally frequent in Kerangas in West Sarawak”, while in comparison Aquilaria species are said
to be rare (Anderson, 1980). Given this predominance, Aetoxylon sympetalum could be the main source of
gaharu in Sarawak. Indeed, the Forest Department’s checklist of the trees of Sarawak (Anderson, 1980)
states that A. sympetalum produces the “true gaharu wood”. An authoritative note on an Aetoxylon
herbarium specimen sheet labelled ‘gaharu buaya’ states that: “This species is the principal producer of
gaharu - the incense wood exported to India” (Anderson, 1959). Browne (1955) notes that gaharu buaya,
when burned, “has a pleasant aromatic smell, lacking, however, the suggestion of lemon given by true
aloes-wood (gaharu mengkaras). Gaharu buaya is probably exported from Sarawak in larger quantities
than any other incense wood, mainly to Singapore.”
Sandalwood
All incense woods are sometimes referred to using generic names of common species. In Malaysia, the
terms ‘cendana’ (sandalwood) and ‘kemenyan’ (benzoin) are often used as generic names for all incense
woods. Due to the use of these generic names, fragrant wood from Aquilaria and other Malaysian species
are fairly often referred to as ‘cendana’ (‘sandalwood’). Conversely, ‘gaharu’ is also used as a generic
name for incense woods11, with a wide variety of substances termed loosely as ‘gaharu’ (see also section
on ‘Fake’ gaharu, below)12. Botanically, agarwood-producing species are in a separate family
(Thymelaeaceae) from what are considered to be the true sandalwoods Santalum spp. (Santalaceae) and red
sandalwoods Pterocarpus spp. (Leguminosae). Nevertheless, attempts to standardise nomenclature (e.g.
CITES Notification No. 1998/19) show that the confusion of gaharu with sandalwood is not confined to
Malaysia, with one Indian vernacular name for Aquilaria malaccensis being ‘Aggalichandanam’ and one
Indian vernacular name listed for Pterocarpus santalinus being ‘Agaru’.
‘Fake’ gaharu
In addition to the confusion regarding ‘sandalwood’ and ‘gaharu buaya’ mentioned above, a substantial
amount of what is claimed to be true ‘gaharu’ is not actually genuine. Normal Aquilaria wood or wood
from other species is sometimes soaked in gaharu hydrosol and then sometimes also carved to look like
high grade gaharu, and is often referred to as ‘black magic wood’ or ‘BMW’ in trade. In addition, so-called
‘gaharu’ oil is often a petroleum-based synthetic. Furthermore, genuine gaharu oil is often diluted with
cheaper oils.
11 The term 'kedai gaharu' is used in Penang to refer to a shop that sells joss sticks. The term 'agarbatti' is used in the Customs codes to refer
to all incense sticks (Customs Duties Order 1996, HS Code 33.07.41).
12 Ridley (1901) identified 'chandan' with Aquilaria hirta. However, the Colonial Customs classed 'gharu' separately from 'Chindana' - which was
valued slightly below 'Gharu lempong No. 1' (Anon., 1914). In 1913, "Kayu Chandana" was reported on sale for MYR0.46-0.50 per kg (Anon.,
1913).
6
IUCN Red list
While seven agarwood-producing species found in Malaysia are categorised as Vulnerable (VU) by the
IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2008), the most recent assessment was carried out in 1994. Malaysian delegations
to CITES have questioned this assessment (Chen, 2004) and consistently pointed out that “not all Aquilaria
spp. are in danger of extinction” (e.g. CITES PC13 Doc. 9.3). However, most agarwood-producing species
found in Malaysia have not had their conservation status evaluated and one species, Aquilaria rostrata, is
categorised as Data Deficient (DD)13. Recognising the need to evaluate the status of all agarwoodproducing species, in 2002 the Twelfth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP12)
recommended that IUCN should re-evaluate the threatened status of all agarwood-producing taxa (CITES
Decision 12.69), which was retained in Decision 13.64 following CITES CoP13). At the Fourteenth
Meeting of the Plants Committee (16-20 February 2004), this recommendation was indicated to be of a
high level of priority (CITES PC14 Doc. 5.3). However, no IUCN Red List re-evaluations had yet been
carried out by the time of publication of the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN, 2008).
Conservation status in Malaysia
Some popular media reports have gone so far as to claim that “in the forests of Malaysia and Indonesia, the
eight species of agarwood have already reached the point of no return” (Ziauddin, 2003). However, even
for most of those species that have been evaluated on a global level, the local status often remains
uncertain. Prior to 1994, the IUCN Red List Category system considered the Malaysian population of A.
malaccensis to be “Indeterminate”.
However, there is in fact a substantial amount of information available about Aquilaria at a generic level
and specifically regarding Aquilaria malaccensis. Historically, the genus Aquilaria was reported to be
quite common in Malaysia. In the 17th Century, Eredia noted “dense groves” of Aquilaria trees in the
hinterland of Malacca (Mills, 1930). Indeed, Aquilaria malaccensis derives its species epithet from this
historical trading port and State on the west coast of the Malay peninsula. It was given the name by the
French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who described the species in 1783 from a specimen presented to
him by his associate Pierre Sonnerat as “Garo de Malacca”. Similarly, Adams (1848) noted that Aquilaria
was one of the most common trees in the forests of north-west Borneo near Abai at the mouth of the Sungai
Kinabatangan, in what is now the State of Sabah.
Aquilaria malaccensis grows up to an altitude of 1000 m, Corner (1978), and has even been recorded
growing in freshwater swamp forest in Sedili, Johor (Corner, 1978). Detailed inventories carried out in the
mid-20th Century (Wyatt-Smith, 1995) noted that A. malaccensis was a ‘rare to uncommon tree, usually of
poor form”; noting per-hectare stem stocking densities (>4’ g.b.h., i.e. >38.8 cm d.b.h.) of 0.297 (Kedah),
0.507 (Malacca) and 0.349 (Kelantan); as well as 1.65 stems per hectare (>6” g.b.h., i.e. >4.85 cm d.b.h.)
(Pahang). The species has also been reported from Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve, in the heart of Kuala
Lumpur, which has a path running through it named ‘Jalan Aquilaria’.
13 A study carried out by the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) listed A. rostrata as "endangered" because of rarity and geographical
restriction (Ng et al., 1990)
14 Full details of NFI-4, including survey methodology had yet to be published. However, these figures do not include trees within National Parks.
7
The Forest Department Peninsular Malaysia carried out a National Forest Inventory every 10 years since
1972. The Third National Forest Inventory (NFI-3) carried out in 1992 showed that ‘Karas/Gaharu’
(Aquilaria spp.) was found throughout Peninsular Malaysia in both logged and virgin forest (Chin et al.,
1997). It was found that in the ‘Best Virgin Forest’ stratum there were 1.79 stems per hectare (>10 cm
d.b.h.) of ‘Karas/Gaharu’ species (Table 1). The Fourth National Forest Inventory (NFI-4) began in 2003
and was due to be published in 2006. Initial analysis (Mohd Paiz, 2006) revealed an estimate of 3.06
million stems (>15 cm d.b.h.) of Aquilaria spp. in Peninsular Malaysia (however, stocking density was not
given). This translated into an estimated volume of 1.83 million m³ of Aquilaria timber (not necessarily
containing gaharu). It was also estimated that 95% of the total number of trees are between 15 cm and 45
cm d.b.h., which made up of 66.8% of the total volume of Aquilaria trees. Pahang State was regarded to
have the highest volume of Aquilaria; while Kelantan State the highest number of stems (Mohd Paiz,
2006)14
Table 1
Stocking density of “Karas/Gaharu” in Peninsular Malaysia by forest type (stems & cubic metres per hectare)
Source: Third National Forest Inventory (Chin et al., 1997)
The findings of the national forest inventories were generally consistent with other site-specific
inventories. For example, the 1.54 stems per hectare (>10 cm d.b.h.) recorded by Lim and Jamaluddin
(1994) in a forest in Negeri Sembilan. However, studies by the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM)
have found that increased competition for gaharu has led to indiscriminate felling of Aquilaria trees
“consequently, the survival of the A. malaccensis is threatened” (Lim et al., 2003). Indeed, other FRIM
experts have reported that the species is increasingly scarce in Peninsular Malaysia (Cheah, 1997).
14 Full details of NFI-4, including survey methodology had yet to be published. However, these figures do not include trees within National
Parks.
8
There have been no recent studies on agarwood-producing species in Sabah. However, in Sarawak, Chin
(1985) noted the “exhaustion” of gaharu in Tinjar due to over-collection in the mid- to late-1970s. Lee et
al. (2002) reported approximately 190 stems of Aquilaria beccariana (>1 cm d.b.h.) from a 52-ha Long
Term Ecological Research Plot in Lambir Hills National Park (0.3 stems per hectare >3 cm d.b.h.).
However, it was reported that most of the Aquilaria trees in this plot had been wounded by gaharu
collectors and were felt to be too small to sustain the population (Dawend et al., 2005). Similarly, Dawend
et al. (2005) reported that a study of gaharu collection in Belaga found that the local supply had been
depleted over the last 50 years. Despite these reports of depletion, the Sarawak Forestry Corporation
reported that agarwood-producing species continued to be widespread in Sarawak, with total stocking
densities averaged at 0.16032 stems per ha (>20 cm d.b.h.) (S. Bakar, Sarawak Forestry Corporation, pers.
comm. 1 March 2006), however, the basis for this figure was not provided.
Harvest
Ethnic groups involved in harvesting
A model for the collection and trading of forest produce in Malaysia is provided by Dunn (1975). This
model presents the trade chain from collector/primary trader (usually indigenous forest people) in to
secondary traders at the forest edge (usually ethnic Chinese ‘towkays’ or middlemen; but also ethnic
Malays) to tertiary traders (mostly Malaysians of Chinese descent, but also foreigners) at large towns on
the coast (Figure 2).
Figure 2
Model for the collection and trading of forest produce in Malaysia
Source: Adapted from Dunn (1975)
The bulk of reports on gaharu collection in Malaysia appear to fit with the model put forward by Dunn
(1975). Throughout Malaysia (see Appendix 4), the Orang Asal (indigenous people) are reported to be the
most important gaharu collectors/primary traders. In Peninsular Malaysia, the Orang Asal are known as
9
the ‘Orang Asli’, of which almost all the sub-ethnic groups have been involved in collection since the early
19th Century (Couillard, 1984); these groups include the Semaq Beri (Kuchikura, 1986; Kuchikura, 1988),
Semelai (Gianno, 1986; Gianno, 1990; Kruspe, 2004), Batek (Nicholas, 2000; Anon., 2004g; Lye, 2005),
Jakun (Favre, 1865; Almeida, 2002; Faezah, 2005; Ali, 2006), Jahut (Almeida, 2002), Semai (Almeida,
2002), Temuan (Dunn, 1975), Senoi (Logan, 1848), Chewong (Howell, 1983; Aubaile-Sallenave and
Bahuchet, 1995), Jahai/Temiar (Lim et al., 2002), Senimba (Kathirithamby-Wells, 2005) and Punan tribes
(Aimi, 2001). The dominant ethnic group in Malaysia, the Malays, are also involved in collecting (Skeats,
1900; Albela, 1996; Cheong, 1997; Lim et al., 2003).
In Sabah, there are reports of agarwood collection by local people in the Sook and Kalabakan districts
(Judeth, 2000; Sidkan, 2001), as well as individuals of Murut and Lundayeh ethnicity (Goh, 2006). In
Sarawak, gaharu collectors are reported to include the Melanau (Hose, 1912), Iban, Kenyah (Chin, 1985;
Dawend et al., 2005), Punan, Penan people (Hansen, 1988; Hansen, 1998; Manser, 2003) and SinoSarawakians (Keppel, 1846).
Foreign nationals are also reported to be involved in illegal agarwood harvesting in Malaysia. These
foreigners are predominantly from Thailand, and sometimes Cambodia (collecting in Peninsular Malaysia);
Indonesia and the Philippines (collecting in Sabah); and Indonesia (collecting in Sarawak) (Table 2). It is
also noted that Malaysians have been reported to be involved in illegal agarwood harvesting in Brunei and
Indonesia (see Appendix 5).
Table 2
Patterns of transnational gaharu poaching in Malaysia or by Malaysians
Source: see Appendix 5.
10
Methods of harvest
There are two main methods of harvesting gaharu: fatal harvest and sub-lethal harvest. The most
commonly reported method is fatal harvest, whereby the whole tree is chopped down to harvest the gaharu.
There are a number of early reports of fatal harvest of Aquilaria being practiced by Malays in Johor (Bland,
1886) and Selangor (Skeat, 1900). Given the dangers of working in the jungle and fact that only around
one-in-ten trees naturally contain gaharu15 the Malays practice numerous rituals and taboos when felling
Aquilaria trees (Skeat, 1900; Maxwell, 1907). The Sarawak Gazette (Anon., 1818) noted similar customs
and taboos practiced by the Dyaks of Borneo when harvesting the tree16. Fatal harvest kills the tree,
however there are indications that with an adequate stocking of seedlings, natural regeneration can take
place following industrial logging activities – it has been reported that Aquilaria hirta “often occurs in
secondary forest” (Gianno, 1986). Nevertheless, the headman of one Jahai community in Temengor, Perak,
implicated industrial logging in the local decline gaharu yields (Harun, 2005).
Less widely reported is the fact that harvesters sometime practise non-destructive harvesting methods.
Aquilaria malaccensis is known to be suited to coppicing, i.e. it produces new shoots from a stump (Green,
1999). Corner (1978), found that the bark of Aquilaria malaccensis can regenerate completely 7-8 months
after being damaged. A report by the Thailand-based WildAid Foundation (now known as FREELAND
Foundation) found that Aquilaria trees are relatively robust and can be tapped by chipping or cutting the
infected part for over 10 years before they die (Anon., 2004l). Indeed, there are indications the Orang Asli
routinely practice a sub-lethal harvest method on a rotation of 2-3 months where trees are still alive after
15 years of coppicing (W.P. Hee, pers. comm., 2 March 2006).
History of harvest and trade in Malaysia
Gaharu was collected extensively in the Malay Peninsula during the 19th Century and early 20th Century.
The trade in agarwood from Borneo also goes back hundreds of years. A Spanish report from 1530
describes Cerava (Sarawak) as one of the four chief ports of Borneo, inhabited by ‘many and rich
merchants’ whose trade consists of diamonds, camphor, agarwood, provisions and wine (Walker, 2002).
Low (1848) and Brooke (1866) also observed the collection, trade and use of gaharu among the Malays of
Hulu Sarawak. Tregonning (1958: 82) noted that incense woods such as kayu lakka17 were brought from
Hulu Kinabatangan to Sandakan and from there shipped to Singapore and where they were ultimately
traded with the rest of the world (see ‘Historical trade chains’, below).
Gaharu collection in Peninsular Malaysia was reported to have ceased between the 1930s and the 1970s
due to economic factors and government interference (Gianno, 1986). Indeed, gaharu was one of many
commodities that experienced a price crash during the Great Depression of the 1930s. After the crash, there
does not appear to have been much collection of gaharu in Malaysia until around about 1975, when the
15 Nicholas (2000) notes that some Orang Asli can tell the presence of agarwood in the heart of a tree by noting minute clues such as peeling
bark and falling leaves.
16 More recent newspaper articles (Cheong, 1997; Clerizo, 2005) noted that some Malaysian gaharu collectors continued to practice similar
rituals.
17 Lakkawood (Dalbergia parviflora) is another Malaysian incense wood that was probably used as a substitute for gaharu in markets such as China
(Heng, 2001).
11
price of gaharu experienced an upsurge. This is documented by Chin (1985) who noted that around that
time all adult males in the Kenyah longhouse of Long Selatong, Ulu Baram, and indeed in all longhouses
throughout Sarawak, began to organise gaharu collecting trips. These trips were said to be “destructive”,
leading to “exhaustion” of stocks in parts of lowland Sarawak by 1980. Collection moved to the interior,
where in 1984 Manser (2003) noted that the Penan collected gaharu for trade with Bugis and Chinese
middlemen. Across the border in Kalimantan over-collection led to the “near-disappearance” of gaharu by
the mid-1980s with even small saplings being destroyed before they had a chance to set seed (Brookfield
et al., 1995).
The pattern of destruction was also being played out in Peninsular Malaysia, where by the beginning of the
1980s, harvesting was reported in Terengganu where “trees of all sizes, from small saplings upward, were
felled without sufficient regard to conserving stocks” (Mah et al., 1983: 67). Collection in Pahang was no
different, with the high price of the commodity making collection an “all consuming activity” among the
Chewong of Kerau Game Reserve in 1981 (Howell, 1983). Gianno (1986) also recorded extensive fatal
harvest of Aquilaria trees for high-grade gaharu among the Semelai of Tasik Bera in the 1980s. It was
noted that many Semelai “feel that the forest is doomed anyway and that they should try to extract as much
as they can from it first”.
Exhaustion of local stocks forced collectors to travel outside their traditional territories in search of gaharu.
There are numerous examples of Orang Asli spending weeks away from home. For example, collectors
from Pos Slim (Perak) are known to travel all the way to Raub (Pahang) on collecting trips (C. Nicholas,
Centre for Orang Asli Concerns, pers. comm. to TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, 7 September 2005).
Ironically, the shifting boom-and-bust pattern of gaharu exploitation is probably the reason that intensive
collection in the past did not cause the local extinction of Aquilaria in Malaysia. The theory is that gaharu
collection reduces the number of Aquilaria trees in an area and thus progressively increases the cost of
finding gaharu in the original centre of collection and eventually induces collectors to shift to new areas
which have more Aquilaria
trees. Studies in Indonesia
have indicated that these
shifts occur when there are
still enough reproducing adult
trees as well as a good
density of juveniles to ensure
Aquilaria regeneration in the
old centres (Fuentes, 2002;
Vayda, 1997; Yamada, 1995;
Paoli et al., 1994).
Agarwood from eastern Indonesia (Merauke, Papua province) on sale in
Kuala Lumpur
However, the latest gaharu
boom has led to transnational collection once
stocks in one country have
been exhausted. Syndicated
gangs of gaharu collectors
were being organised in
12
Thailand as early as 1987 (Anon., 2004k). These groups started arriving in northern Malaysia by the late
1980s. The Thai collectors worked their way down the Peninsula, illegally harvesting gaharu regardless
of whether the trees were in forest reserves or protected areas.
One particularly striking example of illegal harvesting of gaharu in protected areas is the case of Taman
Negara, Malaysia’s first National Park which was established in 1938-1939 covering 431 453 ha in the
States of Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu. The park is managed by the Department of Wildlife and
National Parks (DWNP). The local Batek tribe had probably been collecting gaharu in the area since
before the establishment of the park. However, of perhaps greater concern was the advent of foreign
gaharu harvesters largely of Thai origin, from around 1990 onwards (Faezah, 1995). Compounding this
problem was the alleged complicity of officials charged with preventing encroachment into the park. A
doctoral dissertation of the University of Malaya contained the serious allegation that although it is illegal
to harvest gaharu and rattan in Taman Negara, “some of the DWNP personnel are said to be middlemen
for the trade in these items” (Nicholas, 2000: 134). However, the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment has responded that DWNP has no knowledge on this, which - despite being a very serious
allegation - is based on hearsay.
In addition to entering Taman Negara, the Thai collectors were reported to have worked their way down to
Johor (the southern-most Malaysian State) by 2003 (Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim, DWNP, in litt. to
TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, 2003; Anon., 2004h). Collectors from Thailand were also reported to be active
in Sabah in 1999 and in Sarawak in 2005 (Dawend et al., 2005). Furthermore, given the extensive border
shared between Indonesian and Malaysian Borneo, Indonesian collectors have probably been active in
Sabah and Sarawak for many years. Collectors from the Philippines have also been reported to be
collecting gaharu in Sabah and Sarawak. As well as foreign gaharu collectors operating in Malaysia, there
are also reports of Malaysian collectors operating in Brunei and Indonesia (see Results section).
Legislation governing harvest
Overview
Malaysia has a wide-ranging body of laws that govern the various aspects of the agarwood industry:
including cultivation and collection (‘protection of flora and fauna’); processing and manufacture; as well
as domestic trade, imports and exports. The laws for the protection of agarwood-producing species include
two aspects: (1) the establishment of protected areas and (2) the regulation of harvest. Laws that address
both of these aspects include the following laws: National Forestry Act 1984; Forests Ordinance 1958
(Sarawak Cap. 126); Sarawak Forestry Corporation Ordinance 1995; Forest Enactment 1968 (Sabah En.
2/68); Wildlife Protection Act 1972; Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 (Sabah En. 6/97); Wild Life
Protection Ordinance 1998 (Sarawak Cap. 26). The relevant aspects of these and other laws are
highlighted in Appendix 3 of this report. The laws specifically relevant to the regulation of harvest of
gaharu in Malaysia are examined in more detail below and the agencies responsible for the enforcement
of these laws are displayed in Figure 3.
13
Peninsular Malaysia and Federal Territories
In the 1910s and 1920s, the British put in place measures to gazette forest reserves and restrict the
collection of forest produce in what was then known as the Federated Malay States. The National Forestry
Act 1984, which replaced these laws, is the main piece of legislation regulating the harvest of forest
produce in Malaysia. There is no specific category for gaharu in the State Forest Rules made under the
National Forestry Act 1984. However, for the purpose of the collection of royalty, gaharu would be
considered to come under an open clause of the Royalty Rate List that states “Minor Forest Produce:
Miscellaneous – Forest produce not mentioned above” (e.g. Pahang Forest Rules 1987 Sch II (ii) 2.11
(d)).18 The harvest of such produce requires a licence or permit issued by the State Forestry Department,
or by the Wildlife Department if the land is gazetted as a national park.
Sabah
The British North Borneo Chartered Company (BNBCC) recognised the economic value of non-timber
forest products which were a significant source of revenue to the BNBCC in the early days prior to
extensive timber harvesting (Doolittle, 2005). The framework established by the BNBCC is still evident
in Sabah today where the Forest Rules 1969 fix the rate of royalty on gaharu at 10% of the value (Sch II,
Pt A, s (h) “Minor Forest Produce (Damar, Fossil, Gums, Gaharu, Cinnamon, Sticks, Tengkwang, etc)”).
Schedule 1 of Forest Rules 1969 listed Aquilaria malaccensis as a Commercial Species, with a minimum
felling diameter of 60 cm d.b.h.; effective 2 January 2004, the Sabah Forestry Department has classified A.
malaccensis as a “prohibited species” to be retained inside Forest Reserves (Sch C; Clause 1(31) of the
Standard Sustainable Forest Management Licence Agreement – s 15(1) Forest Enactment 1968). In
addition, Sabah’s Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 requires a permit for harvesting a plant of a
species specified in Appendix I or II of CITES.
Sarawak
Sarawak has Forest Rules made under the Forest Ordinance 1954 (revised in 1958) that contain detailed
prescriptions governing the collection of royalties and fees and even provisions governing the collection of
latex and resin from a number of species of trees. However, no specific mention is made of the collection
of gaharu. Gonystylus bancanus, an agarwood-producing species, is included in the List of Marketable
Trees (Forest Ordinance 1954, Sch 2). There is provision for the collection of royalty on gaharu
harvested in Sarawak under licence (s 52(2); Sch I, Class III, Miscellaneous, “Other forest produce not
specified above”), with the rate specified as 10% ad valorem. In addition the law provides for produce to
be taken under permit with the fees set at MYR1.00 per month (Sch 2 H. “Other forest produce”) payable
at the time of the issue of the permit (s 52(4)).
The key agarwood-producing species in Sarawak, including Aetoxylon sympetalum, Aquilaria beccariana,
A. malaccensis and A. microcarpa, are specifically listed as “protected plants” under Sarawak’s Wild Life
Protection Ordinance 1998. A license from the Controller of Wild Life is required to harvest and trade in
these species as well as any plant species included in CITES Appendices I and II (thus all species of
Aquilaria and Gonystylus). Dawend et al. (2005) noted that the application fee for such license was
MYR100 year.
18 It has been reported that in Perak the premium is MYR100 per 200 ha (USD26 per 200 ha at 1999 rates) and an additional royalty fee of
MYR18 per t (USD5 per t) applies to all Aquilaria spp. (E.N.M. Shah, State Deputy Director, Department of Forestry, Perak, pers. comm. to
TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, April 1999).
14
Figure 3
Indicative institutional arrangement for the management of legal agarwood harvest in Malaysia
Source: Adapted from Lim (2006).
Note: This figure illustrates some of the relationships between some of the institutions involved in the
management of agarwood in Malaysia: solid lines indicate complete or direct institutional linkages, dotted
lines indicate partial or indirect institutional linkages
15
Enforcement of harvest controls
Prior to Malaysia’s independence, known as Merdeka19, gaharu was treated as an important forest
product and harvest controls were enforced accordingly. In pre-colonial Peninsular Malaysia, the Malay
rulers demanded a monopoly over the collection of select and expensive items of scarcity such as gaharu
(Kathirithamby-Wells, 2005). Indeed, in the absence of land tax, the rulers’ revenues were derived
mainly from royalties on the export of jungle produce including gaharu (Maxwell, 1884; Graham, 1908).
By controlling the river junctions and sealing independent lines of trade, the Malay Sultans could
effectively “lock up” the jungles, prohibiting direct trade between the collectors and others20. Similarly,
the BNBCC in what is now Sabah built on the extensive trade route and collection points that had been
established by local ruling chiefs, or pengirans, to extract as much revenue as possible from these forest
products, emphasising the importance of taxes and trade permits (Doolittle, 2005).
During colonial times, gaharu was one of a number of “incense woods” whose collection and trade brought
revenue to the State. “Incense woods” were listed as the eighth most important minor forest product on the
basis of Forestry Department revenue returns in 1922 (Foxworthy, 1922). The colonial government
introduced a system of forest reserves to control the production of forest produce. However, it has been
reported that to the local collectors the gazettement of forest reserves and restriction over the collection of
forest produce in Peninsular Malaysia since the 1920s was “tantamount to exclusion from the forest
economy” and was expressed in evasion (Kathirithamby-Wells, 2005).
Since Merdeka, despite numerous efforts to curb the illegal harvest of gaharu, there have been persistent
reports of illegal collection. Enforcement is exacerbated by the large extent of forested area as well as an
increasing number of gaharu collectors. Indeed, there are numerous reports of illegal collection taking
place in protected areas such as Forest Reserves, Wildlife Reserves and National Parks (see below).
Numerous attempts have been made to control the illegal collection of gaharu. Between 1992-2005 at least
197 gaharu-related arrests were reported to have been carried out (see Table 3). Since the first foreign
collectors were noticed by the authorities in the late 1980s, enforcement agencies have worked together to
address the problem of gaharu poaching. In addition to work by the State Forestry Department as well as
the State Department of Wildlife and National Parks, enforcement has seen the involvement of the Police,
and the Armed Forces. In late 1989, an Army patrol was sent to investigate incursions by Thai gaharu
collectors in Belum, Perak (Fathol, 1998). In 1992, 10 Thais were arrested in Taman Negara (Wan
Shahruddin, 1998). Reports of increased encroachment in 1995 sparked public comment:
19 Merdeka (Independence Day) was 31 August 1957 for the Peninsular States and 16 September 1963 for Sabah and Sarawak.
20 In 19th Century Perak, gaharu was collected by the Senoi under concessions granted by the Malay Sultans (Logan, 1848). In Pahang,
extraction was monopolized by the Bendahara under the Sultan of Johor (Kathirithamby-Wells, 2005). Graham (1908) suggests that in Kelantan,
the costly rituals and the 'crushing royalties' demanded by rulers over exportable items may have constrained pre-modern extraction. Similarly,
Dunn (1975) noted that the historical gaharu trade was centred on barter for cloth, rice and tobacco - with such a pre-capitalist economy being
"conducive to self-regulation" and "resource regeneration".
16
“This is a source of concern and should not be taken lightly,” says Malaysian Nature Society
president Datuk Dr Salleh Mohamed Nor. “If the Department of Wildlife and National Parks is not
able to handle the situation, the matter must be reported to the Immigration Department and the Police
and Armed Forces. Besides the issue of national security, I am concerned of the danger to the wildlife”
(Faezah, 1995).21
Table 3
Arrests related to harvesting of gaharu in Malaysia or by Malaysians (1992-2005)
Source: see Appendix 5.
Note: ‘Arrests’ includes seizures of illegal shipments.
In response to the concerns raised, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) and the Police
were reported to have established “round-the-clock patrols” in areas surrounding Taman Negara and along
the East-West highway (Anon., 1995). In 1996 the DWNP arrested a total of 14 people for illegally
cutting down trees in Taman Negara. This included two people “from the neighbouring country” and 12
Orang Asli (Anon., 1997b: 14). In 1999, the Perak State Government announced an informant reward
system to curb gaharu smuggling (Anon., 1999). In 2001, the Terengganu State Government requested that
Armed Forces intervene to curb Thai agarwood collectors (Anon., 2001b). In 2002, a dedicated
Tiger/Rhino Protection Unit (TRPU) was formed to protect Taman Negara, however the Thai poachers
were said to “have represented very serious threats, as they were in greater numbers than TRPU members
and were equipped with firearms” (Anon., 2002a).
In 2002, DWNP launched joint operations with the armed forces. From 2001 to 2006, DWNP reported a
total of 70 foreign gaharu collectors (67 Thai, 3 Cambodian) were apprehended and sentenced up to five
years in jail (see Appendix 8). Kawanishi (2002) noted that this increased effort by DWNP had
21 Indeed, when organised 'gangs' of gaharu collectors are in the forest, there are some indications that they hunt and trap birds and mammals
for protein (meat) as well as collect surplus for trade (Compton and Bennet, 2005).The Wildlife Conservation Society has evidence that gaharu
collectors from Indonesia hunt orang-utans in Lanjak Entimau National Park, Sarawak, while adults are eaten, babies are taken for the pet trade
(J.M. Rubis, pers. comm., September 2006). Thai collectors were reported to have poached tigers, clouded leopards and argus pheasants in Endau
Rompin National Park, Johor (Sittamparam, 2004). However, a study of more than 30 campsites in Taman Negara by Kawanishi (2002) suggested
that Thai gaharu collectors were not hunting large mammals inside the National Park.
17
contributed to the reduction in illegal activities. However, Kawanishi noted that the presence of Thai
nationals in the park was “still worrying”, adding that “continuous efforts in law enforcement were
needed to ensure the resilience of this large park to absorb the negative human impacts exerted by legal
activities in selected areas”. In particular, it was noted that patrolling efforts needed to be increased at
Merapoh as this area was prone to illegal activities “due to the proximity to the main road, absence of
aborigines, and abundant wildlife” (Kawanishi, 2002).
In 2004, the Johor State Government launched Ops Cendana, an inter-agency operation to crack-down on
Thai gaharu collectors in Endau Rompin National Park. Johor National Parks Corporation (JNPC) only
had a staff of 50, spread out over the State’s five national parks. Furthermore, the enforcement powers of
JNPC staff were limited and they engaged the assistance of the Police in this operation. One problem
encountered was the difficulty in monitoring the thick jungle between Endau Rompin National Park’s
eastern gateway at Peta, Mersing and the western gateway at Selai, Segamat (Sittamparam, 2004).
The Federal Police Department was reported to have been monitoring the situation and stated that it was
prepared to extend the Endau Rompin operation to cover other National Parks if the need arose (Anon.,
2004a). However, despite these many efforts, reports of illegal gaharu collection continued and concerns
continued to be expressed that the authorities had not done enough to prevent the illegal collection of
forest produce including gaharu (Intan, 2004). Indeed, a report by Bernama, the national news agency
(Anon., 2004k) suggested that there were “at least 1000 Thai poachers in Malaysia”, with the number of
poachers and the pace of extraction escalating.
Trade and use
Grading systems
During the colonial period there appears to have been a standard grading system in use in the Federated
Malay States (Anon., 1914). However, at present there are many grading systems in use in Malaysia,
however none appears to be standard. Indeed, there does not appear to be any standard grading system for
gaharu throughout the range states. The simplest appears to be the ABC Agarwood Grading System: with
Grade A being brown/black wood22; B: yellow wood with flecks of brown/black; C: white wood with
some flecks of yellow/brown. ABC grading is usually determined solely on physical appearance;
however, the commercial value of agarwood depends on many factors including scent, shape, weight and
colour. A low grade does not always equate a low price, since low resin content could be made up for by
an attractive shape. Conversely, a high grade may actually be sold very cheaply if its colour or texture is
masked by low-grade wood that has yet to be scraped off. Indicative prices reported for gaharu sold in
Malaysia are presented in Table 4a (below).
22 The darkness of the wood is correlated with resin content; agarwood sinks at approximately 25% oleoresin content when
density of the wood reaches 1 kg per cubic metre.
18
Table 4a
Prices for gaharu wood chips sold in Malaysia (MYR/kg)
Source: a – Federated Malay States (Anon., 1914); b – Peninsular Malaysia (Lim, 1992); c – Terengganu (Lim et al.,
2003); d – Hulu Perak (Lim et al., 2003); e – Johor (Anon., 2004l); f – Kelantan (Dahlan, 2005).
Note: The grades presented here have not been standardised.
Grading usually becomes more sophisticated moving down the supply chain, with first-level collectors
having the simplest system. In general, the higher grades are burnt as incense wood or are used in the
manufacture of high-end traditional medicines, while the lower grades are used for making oil; however,
Bland (1886) noted that the better varieties are used in the manufacture of oils. Increased oil production
in Malaysia and other countries has led to increased demand for the lower grades in recent years.
Forms of gaharu
Agarwood-producing taxa are traded in a variety of forms ranging from whole plants (seedlings) and huge
logs to parts and derivatives of various stages of processing23. The terms ‘agarwood’ and ‘gaharu’ are
usually taken to refer only to resin-impregnated pieces of wood (Grade C and above) that have been at least
partially shaved of non-impregnated wood. The standard CITES terminology for these pieces when
recorded in trade is wood ‘chips’ (Table 4b), however, this term may be misleading as some large pieces
of gaharu can be more than a metre in length. Nevertheless, most forms of semi-processed or raw gaharu
in trade only reach about 10 cm in length and can be accurately referred to as chips, fragments, shavings
and splinters, even breaking down to tiny particles of powder and dust.
23 The Standard Malaysian Name for the timber of Aquilaria spp. is 'Karas'; it is said to be suitable for packing crates, plywood,
disposable chopsticks, ladies shoe heels and handles of the kris (a Malay ceremonial knife) (Wong, 1982; Farish and Khoo, 2003).
19
Table 4b
Codes used for specimens in CITES annual reports of relevance to agarwood
Source: Wijnstekers (2005)
Historical uses of gaharu in Malaysia
Historically, gaharu has been put to many uses in Malaysia, including the following: (1) Aromatic:
perfumery, fragrance; (2) Pharmaceutical: medicine, aromatherapy; (3) Religious: burnt offerings, idols,
rosary; and (4) Ornamental: decorative carvings. The use to which a piece of agarwood is put depends
largely on its grade and the ethnicity of the user.
The Orang Asli have been observed to use gaharu for spiritual purposes (Dentan, 2001; Antares, 1996)24.
The native shamans or bobohizan of Sabah are also said to use gaharu for ceremonial purposes (R. Goh,
pers. comm., April 2006). In Sarawak, the Penan are reported to use gaharu for stomach aches, fevers and
as an insect repellent (Hansen, 2000).
In Peninsular Malaysia, Skeat (1900) noted the use of gaharu in traditional Malay rituals. Malays were
reported to use incense before prayers and to take it to Mecca (Bland, 1886), smoke as medicine (Burkhill,
1935), ground as a libation poured at the grave-side (Skeats, 1900), as ‘gaharu merupa’ (shaped pieces
prized as talismans; they roughly resemble some living creature, e.g. a bird, perhaps, or a man) for
24
The Orang Asli also use the bark of Aquilaria malaccensis for ceremonial purposes (Dentan, 1968)
20
spiritual purposes (Skeats, 1900; Wilkinson, 1955), numerous medicinal uses25 (Gimlette and Thomson,
1939; Burkhill, 1935) and as a soporific (Gimlette, 1915).
Gaharu was said to be used for “every sort of ritual and private purpose” and thus of “enormous”
importance in medieval China (Schafer, 1963). In Peninsular Malaysia, the Chinese were reported to use
gaharu joss sticks as incense (Bland, 1886; Burkhill, 1935). While Indians were thought to have
introduced the term ‘gaharu’ to Malaysia, there does not appear to have been any historical use of gaharu
by the Indian community in Malaysia.
Processing
Raw gaharu is processed to produce a wide variety of products. Pieces of gaharu can be further processed
into a number of forms including prayer beads (rosary, tasbih, etc.), original sculptures (gaharu merupa),
as well as mass-produced sculptures. Woods of all grades are also used as ingredients in medicated oils,
medicated liquor, pills, tablets and medicated powder.
Gaharu of all grades can be used to produce oil via a process known as steam distillation, a common
technique for obtaining aromatic compounds from plants. The raw material (wood) is chipped, sun-dried,
crushed and then placed in a distillation still with water and heated until the gaharu compounds are
driven from the wood and re-collected through condensation of the distilled vapour (Mazalan, 2005).
The water used in distillation, which retains some of the fragrant compounds and oils from the raw
material is called hydrosol. The wood that remains is in the form of a powdery pulp which can be dried to
be used for the manufacture of incense such as joss sticks or coils. Pure agarwood oil is used neat or
diluted in other oils, fats or waxes. Agarwood oil can also be used in aqueous solutions or in alcohol26.
In the late 1990s, the technology for gaharu distillation introduced to Peninsular Malaysia from Thailand
and Cambodia (Dr Chang.Yu Shyun, Medicinal Plants Division, FRIM, in litt. to TRAFFIC International,
2000; Mazalan, 2005). There were also reported of Singapore-owned distilleries in Malaysia (Heuveling
van Beek and Phillips, 1999). Recent features by a national newspaper indicate that gaharu distillation in
the State of Kelantan traces its technology and equipment to Thailand and Cambodia (Chiew, 2005a; Chiew
2005b; Chiew 2005c).
25 Gimlette and Thomson (1939) note numerous applications, including the following: "Minyak kayu gaharu is used by Kelantan
Malays for relief of sakit meradak-radak, shooting pains in the stomach; gaharu for medicinal use should be odoriferous and oily, a
little astringent, bitter and aromatic to the taste it is much used medicinally by the Malays and is generally regarded in the East as
a cordial; Kalambak is given in hot water with salt as a tonic in sexual neurasthenia; in warm water with cumin seeds, cloves,
jintan hitam seeds and a little camphor to relieve abdominal pains during pregnancy; for sakit senggugut bangkai, speticaemia
following an abortion; in hot water for stomach pains; in an electuary for sexual weakness; with the young leaves of lakom for
suppressed fever; in a prescription for violent chest pains; for leucorrhoea in an infusion with cynips oak galls, tumeric and
camphor; for amenorrhoea with api-api pith and tamarind root; g. tandok for heart palpitations; decocted bark for dysentery;
general dropsy infusion by rubbing root into thick paste; kalambak paste for leucorrhoea; small pox; griping pains."
26 European fragrances dilute pure perfume essence with alcohol roughly as follows:- "Perfume Extract" (15-40%
concentration) (typically lasting up to six hours); "Parfum de Toilette" (10-20%); "Eau de Parfum" (EDP) (8-30%); "Eau de Toilette"
(EDT) (4-20%); "Eau de Cologne" (EDC) or "Aftershave" (2-5%) (typically lasting up to two hours) (Groom, 1997).
21
Historical trade chains
Dunn (1975) notes that “Malayan exports of small quantities of exotic woods began in very ancient times”.
Chin (1985) suggests that gaharu was exported from Sarawak “probably since the beginning of the
Christian era, when outside traders first arrived at Borneo”. Etymological evidence suggests that the first
international trade in gaharu from what is now Malaysia was carried out by traders from India – this is
because the word “agaru”, from which gaharu is thought to derive, is a Sanskrit word.
Exports to East Asia took place via the entrepôt of Funan (geographically related to modern-day Cambodia)
in the 2nd Century AD (Shaffer, 1996) and direct to China starting in the 4th Century AD (Tarling, 1992)27.
Wang (1958) listed agarwood as one of the products presumed to have been carried to South China from
Tan-tan (tentatively identified as Kelantan) in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries AD. Wheatley (1959) listed
agarwood as one of China’s imports “definitely derived from the Malay Peninsula” between 960-1126 AD,
as well as exported from Pahang in the early 17th century (Wheatley 1961). Chinese demand for gaharu
increased in the 8th Century AD when its medicinal properties were officially recognised by entry into the
Pen Tshao Shi I, the Imperial pharmacopoeia (Needham et al., 1959). By the 10th Century AD gaharu was
reported to be one of the most sought-after fragrant substances in China – second only to camphor (Donkin,
1999). The upper east coast of the Malay Peninsula was said to provide some of the best gaharu at this
time (Tarling, 1992). Various forms of gaharu are recorded as tributes from Southeast Asia to China in the
12th Century (Wade, 2005); Burkhill (1935) suggested that some of this gaharu came from Kedah, Langat,
Ligor and Kuantan in Peninsular Malaysia. In the 1420s, Chinese Admiral Zheng He reportedly sent men
into the mountains of Pulau Sembilan (Perak) to collect gaharu (Anon., 2006b). Since these early exports,
Malaysia (including Sabah and Sarawak28) has remained an important source of gaharu for Chinese use
as incense and medicine29.
In addition to China, the Arab nations of the Middle East have also been important destinations for
Malaysian gaharu for hundreds of years. Direct exports of Malaysian gaharu to the Middle East began in
the Ninth Century AD. Tibbets (1956) listed gaharu as one of the products that Arab traders obtained from
Pulau Tioman and Kalah (Kelang) between 850-1000 AD. Much of the trade in Malaysian gaharu to the
consumer markets in the Middle East took place through entrepôts including Singapore, Goa (formerly
under Portuguese control, now part of modern India), Mumbai and Dubai.
Various authors (Wheatley 1961, Wang 1964) have noted gaharu as one of the products being exported
through Malacca in the 15th Century. Supplies of Malacca were drawn from Cambodia, Cochin-China,
Pahang and Sumatra in addition to local supplies from the West Coast of the Peninsula (Burkhill, 1935).
Following the decline of Malacca as a trading port, the primary hub for gaharu trade shifted to Singapore.
27 Shaffer (1996) noted that Malay traders in Funan in the 2nd Century AD succeeded in introducing gaharu to the Chinese as
a substitute for frankincense and bdellium myrrh from East Africa and Arabia.
28 Following two years of research in Sarawak,Yamada (1995) noted the importance of Borneo as a source of supply of gaharu
for China.
29 An authorized university medical textbook published at the end of the Cultural Revolution listed chenxiang from Malaysia and
India as one of six ingredients which had to be imported from specific destinations (Deng, n.d.).
22
In the 19th Century, the Chinese sampan-pukat (large row-boats) exported significant quantities of gaharu
from the Malay Peninsula to Singapore30 (Newbold, 1839; Wong, 1961). The historical chains of trade in
gaharu generally survive to the present day, with Singapore remaining the focus of trade in Malaysian
gaharu. However, increasing volumes of gaharu are being traded direct to the end consumers (see Results
section).
CITES and Agarwood (gaharu)
History of CITES and Agarwood-producing Taxa
In November 1994, at the Ninth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP9), India proposed
that Aquilaria malaccensis be included in Appendix II of the Convention because it felt that international
demand was threatening the survival of the species in India. CITES permits specimens of taxa on
Appendix II to be exported only if they are from a legal and sustainable source (CITES Article IV 2). The
Indian proposal specified that all trade in A. malaccensis between Parties would be subject to the CITES
permit system.
The delegation of Malaysia was one of the most vocal of the 13 Parties who opposed the Indian proposal.
The official report of the meeting noted that the Malaysians “strongly opposed the proposal” on a number
of grounds, including the risk that the listing would “cause hardship” for Orang Asli collectors in Malaysia.
Indeed, at that time the CITES Secretariat noted that “there is an enforcement problem, because much of
the international trade may either be as chips or as oil, which are difficult to identify”, and recommended
that the listing proposal be rejected “unless adequate means for identification of the specimens in trade are
available” (Anon., 1994). However, despite the objections, the proposal passed with a majority of 43 votes
(CITES Com.I 9.14 (Rev.)).
In April 2000, the 11th Meeting of the Conference of Parties (CoP11) noted difficulties with the
implementation of CITES for A. malaccensis and decided to carry out a review to examine options to
improve the situation (CITES Decisions 11.112 and 11.113). In November 2002, CoP12 extended its
review of Aquilaria species to look at all agarwood-producing taxa (CITES Decisions 12.66 to 12.71).
In October 2004, at the 13th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP13) Indonesia
proposed the inclusion of the entire genera of Aquilaria and Gyrinops in CITES Appendix II with the
annotation ‘#1’31, effectively covering all parts and derivatives. The United Arab Emirates (UAE)
opposed the proposal on the grounds that such a listing would be “very difficult to enforce due to the nature
of the commodity that can be used and traded in various forms (wood, chips, powder, oil or as an
ingredient in perfumes or medicines)” (CITES CoP13 Inf. 54). However, Malaysia supported the
proposal and it was adopted by vote with 72 in favour, 9 against and 23 abstentions (Anon., 2004n). UAE
30 During the year ending 30 April 1836, Singapore imported 295 kg of gaharu from the Malay Peninsula, 118 kg from the east
coast and 177 kg from the west coast, this made up 2.5% of Singapore's total gaharu imports for that year (11.8 t), the bulk of
which came from what is now Indonesia (Newbold, 1839).
31 #1 Designates all parts and derivatives, except: a) seeds, spores and pollen (including pollinia); b) seedling or tissue cultures
obtained in vitro, in solid or liquid media, transported in sterile containers; and c) cut flowers of artificially propagated plants. This
Annotation was revised at CITES CoP13, with the addition of d)
23
and three other Middle East nations32 later entered specific reservations on Aquilaria spp. and Gyrinops
spp. (CITES Notifications No. 2005/009, No.2005/025). At CoP13 Indonesia also proposed the inclusion
of Gonystylus spp. (another genus in the Thymeleaceae family known to produce agarwood) in Appendix
II – this was passed without going to a vote. As a result, since January 2005, three of the seven genera
reported to have species that produce agarwood are now included in CITES Appendix II.
CITES CoP13 also made several decisions pertaining to agarwood-producing taxa, repeating the call for
more research into various aspects of the implementation of the convention for these taxa (CITES
Decisions 13.61 to 13.65 – see Appendix 6). Progress against these decisions was reviewed by the CITES
Secretariat and CITES Plants Committee representatives, along with the outputs from the CITES
Agarwood Experts Group Meeting, held in Kuala Lumpur in November 2006, which led to CITES
Decisions 14.137 to 14.144 on agarwood-producing taxa (see Appendix 7).
Malaysian legislation governing trade
Legislation governing international trade in gaharu
During the Malacca Sultanate (Fifth Century AD), traders had to pay duties on the export of gaharu. The
duty for merchants from China and Japan was fixed at 5%, while traders from elsewhere (including India,
Sri Lanka, Arabia and Thailand) had to pay 6% (Yussof, 1989). During the colonial period, gaharu
continued to be included on the list of dutiable items. The British administration of the Federated Malay
States levied export duties on seven grades of gaharu (“Gharu” No. 1 to No. 5 and “Gharu lempong” No.1
and No. 2) (Anon., 1914).
At the time of this study, the main piece of legislation governing the international trade in gaharu has been
the Customs Act 1967 which regulates the export of a number of agarwood-producing species and some of
the parts and derivatives thereof (these various forms are listed in Table 6 and Figure 4. In particular, the
Customs Duties Order 1996 imposed a 10% Export Duty on “gaharu wood chips” (HS Code “1211.90
200”). However, in 2003 the Customs Duties (Amendment) (No. 5) Order 2003 removed this Export Duty.
The Customs (Export Prohibition) Order 1998 and the Customs (Import Prohibition) Order 1998 both
require that all exporters and importers of logs (HS Code 44.03 which includes logs of agarwoodproducing species) obtain a licence from the Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB). In addition, the
Customs (Prohibition of Imports) (Amendment) (No. 4) Order 200633, which came into operation on 1
June 2006, requires that all imports of Ramin Gonystylus spp. into Malaysia require “an import permit
required under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES) issued by or on behalf of the Director General of the Malaysian Timber Industry Board” (Sch 4,
51 (5) (b); 52 (5) (b)).
32 Parties with specific reservations against Aquilaria spp. and Gyrinops spp. include Kuwait, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab
Emirates and Qatar.
33 P.U. (A) 200/2006.
24
Table 5
List of designated CITES Authorities in Malaysia of relevance to agarwood/gaharu
*Malaysia’s National CITES Committee has assigned responsibility for gaharu to MTIB (for Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah) and
to Sarawak Forestry Corporation (for Sarawak).
Source: Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, in litt. February, 2007; CITES website <www.cites.org> “Malaysia /
Malasia / Malaisie” updated in June 2007.
Furthermore, the Malaysian Timber Industry Board (Incorporation) Act 1973 provides controls for the
export of beads and sculptures (HS Code 44.20) which may be of gaharu. On 28 December 2004, MTIB
issued Timber Export Bulletin 19/87 (Mohd Nazuri, 2004) which details the procedures for the trade in
timber from Gonystylus and Aquilaria from Malaysia. In particular, MTIB requires each application for a
CITES Export Permit to be accompanied by a document, such as a Removal Pass issued by the Forestry
Department under the National Forestry Act 1984, which will ascertain the source from which the
25
specimen is derived in Malaysia34. The MTIB procedures cover “specimens or products such as logs,
sawntimber, plywood, veneer and include ‘parts and derivatives’ i.e. mouldings, furniture components and
finished furniture”. Issues related to the implementation of these MTIB procedures is discussed in the
‘Trade’ section of ‘Results’, below.
Malaysia’s Parliament passed in 2007 the International Trade in Endangered Species Act 2007, a federal
piece of legislation governing trade in CITES-listed specimens, but the implementation of this Act relative
to the agarwood trade was not able to be assessed given the time period of this study.
Table 6
Terminology used for forms of agarwood products in Malaysia
Source: Antonopoulou (2005); Customs Duties Order 1996; Wijnstekers (2005)
Note: HS Codes 44.01 and 44.21 are sometimes misapplied to agarwood products.
Legislation governing domestic trade in gaharu
There are a number of agencies with responsibility for regulating the trade in gaharu in Malaysia (see
Table 5). These agencies derive their authority from legislation enacted by the Federal Parliament as well
as the various State Legislative Assemblies. Most of the legislation mentioned in the section ‘Legislation
governing harvest’ (see above) also has provisions related to domestic trade. In addition to this, there are
a number of laws related to domestic trade that are particularly relevant to gaharu.
Of primary importance are the Customs Act 1967 and the Sales Tax Act 1972 which regulates the sale of
gaharu in Malaysia by imposing a 5% Sales Tax on “gaharu wood chips” (Customs Duties Order 1996,
HS Code35 “1211.90 200”). Of secondary importance is the Sale of Drugs Act 1952 which regulates the
34 The MTIB application form "Borang permohonan PERMIT/SIJILCITES" specifies the "Pas Bagi Memindahan Hasil Hutan (Hutan
08/86 - Pin. 1/89)" (Removal Pass) as well as the "Resit Pembayaran (Kew. 38 - Pin. 2/86)" (Royalty Receipt) from the State Forestry
Department.
35 Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (see Appendix 7).
26
Figure 4
Customs HS Codes of relevance to agarwood-producing taxa
Live Plants
HS 6
Logs
HS 44.03
Sculptures
HS 97.03
Chips
HS 12.11
Beads
HS 44.20
Incense
HS 33.07
Medicine
HS 30
Oil
HS 33.01
Perfume
HS 33.03
Source: HS Codes from Customs Duties Order 1996.
sale of gaharu oil, perfume and medicine; the Control of Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations 1984 made
under this Act requires that these products be registered with the Drug Control Authority and that all
manufacturers, importers and wholesalers be licensed. Also of some relevance is the Local Government
Act 1976 which has provisions for the licensing of the public sales of goods (retail).
Economics
Price trends
The gaharu trade is driven primarily by economic factors that have a dramatic effect on patterns of
consumption and collection. Comparison of prices and identifying trends is frustrated by the absence of a
standard grading system. However, it is possible to make broad assessments of the prices of “top grade”,
the average prices and the range of prices from year to year. It is clear that prices of gaharu have
fluctuated rather dramatically in response to global economic factors.
The gaharu market in Malaysia has experienced a number of booms and crashes over the years. In 1880,
top grade agarwood was sold for up to four Straits Dollars (substantively equivalent to MYR4 or USD1)
27
per kg. By 1907, prices doubled to MYR8.20, eased to MYR6.50 in 192036 and then crashed to MYR1.30
in 1925 due largely to competition from the Netherlands Indies (which is now Indonesia). Pahang was
reported to be very badly hit and was unable to arrest the general downturn in revenues accrued from the
trade in gaharu and other forest produce (Bland, 1886; Foxworthy, 1922; Kathirithamby-Wells, 2005).
No account has been made of general inflation, but prices of gaharu had risen to MYR83 per kg by 1950
(Chiew, 2005). In the 1970s “best quality” reached around MYR170 in the Baram, Sarawak (Chin, 1985;
Hansen, 1988). In early 1980 the same quality reached MYR413 in the Baram and MYR1300 for similar
quality ex-village in Peninsula Malaysia (Chin, 1985; Gianno, 1986). Prices then rose sharply into the
1990s, reaching MYR2000 by 1995 (Anon., 1995); MYR3000 by 1996 (Albela, 1996) and MYR4000 by
1999. The first half of the 2000s have seen the upward trend continue with prices per kg increasing to
MYR5000 by 2003 (Lim et al., 2003); MYR8000 by 2004 (Chiew, 2004); and as high as MYR10 000 by
2005 (Chiew, 2005).
The value chain
The economics of the gaharu trade are largely influenced by the market. However, profitability varies
widely between different points along the source-to-market chain. The collectors are at the lowest rung in
the ladder and are reported to suffer exploitation by middlemen traders. In Peninsular Malaysia, this is said
to be particularly true with the Orang Asli. Kathirithamby-Wells (2005) highlighted the case of Orang Asli
gaharu collectors in 19th Century Johor, where the aboriginal tribes became “virtual serfs” to the Malay
Sultans:
“The Orang Sabimba (Orang Senimba – a forest people from Batam Island, resettled in Johor by the
Malay Sultans) were advanced salt, cloth and rice for the delivery of agarwood and other forest
products. Due partly to the slow process of forest produce extraction, they remained in permanent
bondage. Their plight was aggravated by the fraudulence of traders who tampered with the scales and
adopted unfair prices. Reputedly, traders in Johor made a profit of anything up to 400 per cent on
food and manufactures advanced to forest dwellers and a further 100 per cent on the resale of forest
produce in Singapore” (Kathirithamby-Wells, 2005).
However, when prices are high, collecting can be a highly lucrative activity. For example, in Sarawak at
the end of the 1970s Chin (1985) noted that “a party sold [MYR]12 000 worth collected on a week-long
expedition”. Collecting gaharu became such an obsession that swiddening was temporarily neglected;
“…at present, for most families in Long Selatong it is as important or more important than rubber as a cash
earner”. For the year 1977, 61% of respondents (n=13) respondents earned more than MYR300 from sales
of gaharu in 1977, while mean rubber tapping income was only MYR225 (Chin, 1985). A very similar
pattern was seen in four villages in Terengganu State between 1998 and 1999 where the proportion of the
workforce involved in gaharu harvesting increased from 10% (n=269) to 58% (n=60) and up to 68% of
total household income came from gaharu collecting (Table 7 and Table 8) (Mohd Parid and Lim, 2003).
36 1920 Singapore exported 370 piculs (22.2 t) for [MYR]142 751 giving an average price of MYR6.5 per kg (Foxworthy, 1922).
28
Table 7
Average household income (MYR/month) derived from gaharu in Terengganu
Source: Mohd Parid and Lim (2003); Lim et al. (2005)
There are some that see the gaharu industry as exploitative of the Orang Asli (Anon., 1991). Despite their
pivotal role in the trade chain, it appears that Orang Asli are said to be “price takers”, selling to the trader
willing to pay the highest price. Orang Asli are employed by a wide variety of middlemen, even
occasionally being employed by traders from Thailand (C. Nicholas, pers. comm. September 2005).
Although many Orang Asli communities no longer collect as much gaharu as they did 10 years ago (C.
Nicholas, pers. comm. September 2005), prohibition on unlicensed collection would have a significant
effect on the income of certain groups. In particular, enforcement of the licensing requirements of the
National Forestry Act 1984 could have a “devastating” effect on the income of the two villages in the study,
possibly exacerbating poverty (with present levels of poverty being 4/28 (1/10, 3/18) households in the two
villages) (Lim et al., 2003).
In effect, most sources indicate that this diversification approach is what traditional collectors already
practice, with most reports stating that, due to the risks and uncertainties associated with its yields, gaharu
harvesting is seldom a full-time activity. Studies have found that gaharu collecting provides employment
mainly during slack periods of the agricultural cycle (Mohd Parid and Lim, 2003); villagers spend
alternate weeks on agriculture and gaharu collecting/fishing (Lim et al., 2005). Sociologists working
closely with the Orang Asli have found that collection is usually only a supplementary activity to hunting,
fishing and agriculture; collection is often spurred by macro-economic factors such as a bumper fruit
harvest making the fruit trade unprofitable (C. Nicholas, pers. comm. September 2005).
Despite the general indications that gaharu collection is usually a peripheral activity, there are indications
that gaharu plays a more central role in the economy of some groups. Lye (2005) observed the following
patterns of collection and trade among the Batek of Taman Negara, Pahang:
The main source of cash income is commercial extraction of forest products: primarily rattan and
eaglewood or gaharu. ... Rattan and gaharu traders have come to mark the passage of calendar-time.
Every three weeks the current trader drives into the forest to pick up his shipments from a collecting
group. On another day, he may rendezvous with a different group living elsewhere. Whenever he’s
expected to appear, someone from the group will walk out to a logging road to meet him and guide
him to their latest location. They might have moved camp since his last visit. The collectors
scramble onto the back of his truck and he drives them to the various wayside points where they’ve
stashed their products. They load up the products until the shipments are fully on board. The trader
29
pays them off, maybe chauffeurs them to the nearest shop where they will stock up on supplies, drives
them back to the forest, makes an appointment for the next collection day, and goes off.
Similar arrangements seem to be made in Sabah, where collection by locals appears to have been taking
place for quite a number of years. Goh (2006) recorded in a newspaper report that in Sabah brokers would
come up with the money for collectors to buy our supplies and provide for their families back home:
A 60-year-old Murut from Nabawan, who wanted to be identified only as Saring, said finding gaharu
was a family tradition and he started doing it when he was a teenager. “My first trip was before I got
married. I needed the money to pay my dowry,” said Saring, who was caught last year [2005] in
Munggis, Ranau. He was with five others deep in the Kinabalu Park when caught by rangers, who
had received word from villagers living at the edge of the reserve about strangers walking in the
forest. “We had about 10 kg at the time and had chopped down 12 trees. We were there for nearly
two months. I know it is wrong and I don’t think I will be doing it any more after spending two weeks
in the lock-up.”
However, even at very high prices, it is unlikely that collection of gaharu from the wild can be an
economically sustainable activity on its own. LaFrankie (1994), estimated that natural densities of gaharu
in the wild (2-3 stems per hectare over 1 cm d.b.h.) preclude sustained economic exploitation in the long
term (annualised sale values were only about USD0.11 per hectare per year). However, it was noted to be
possible that by combining multiple forest products under a ‘High Diversity Forestry’ scheme, one could
increase the density of harvestable products, reduce the unit cost of labour and improve the profitability of
wild harvest.
Table 8
Economics of harvesting gaharu in Peninsular Malaysia
*This yield translated into a trip income of MYR300-9500 (avg. MYR2461) or MYR638 per person for a 9-day, 4 person trip.
Source: Lim et al. (2003)
30
METHODS
TRAFFIC Southeast Asia initiated work on gaharu trade dynamics in Malaysia in September 2005, with
the objectives of documenting the structure, significance and trade dynamics of Malaysia’s harvest, trade
and local consumption of this unique non-timber forest product, and making recommendations towards a
CITES Non-Detriment Finding (NDF) methodology37. Initial work centred on a review of all available
literature, including botanical, economic as well as cultural sources. This was supplemented by field
research centred on three States in the Federation of Malaysia, Kelantan (in Peninsular Malaysia), Sabah
and Sarawak (both in Malaysian Borneo). The field research aimed to trace trade chains from the point of
collection until the point of export. In addition, an assessment was made of the domestic market for
agarwood in Malaysia. This involved market research including surveys of and semi-structured interviews
with retailers of agarwood products (e.g. traditional medicine retailers, prayer article retailers, dedicated
agarwood retailers/wholesalers, shopping centres and traders in open-air markets). Retail outlets were
visited in the Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur and surrounds), Ipoh, Seremban and Penang in Peninsular
Malaysia as well as Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan in Sabah and Kuching in Sarawak.
To present and review the findings of the initial research, TRAFFIC Southeast Asia convened a National
Workshop on 1-2 March 2006 in collaboration with the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) and the
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (the CITES Scientific Authority of Malaysia). This
workshop included representatives from industry, regulatory agencies and non-governmental organisations
from all three regions of Malaysia, as well as resource persons from the CITES Plants Committee, the
IUCN-SSC Global Trees Specialist Group and the IUCN-SSC Medicinal Plants Specialist Group. In
addition, Malaysia hosted a CITES Agarwood Experts Group Meeting involving government, scientific
and industry representatives from key agarwood-trading countries in Kuala Lumpur from 14-17 November
2006. This international workshop addressed a wide range of issues related to the sustainability of the
international agarwood industry, including the methodology for conducting CITES NDFs. TRAFFIC’s
research on gaharu in Malaysia was conducted in a transparent manner, and has allowed for creation of
valuable links with the both the Malaysian Government and gaharu industry participants.
RESULTS
Harvest
Legal harvest
The extensive literature review and consultations carried out under this study revealed that no specific
statistics recording the legal harvest of gaharu produced by A. malaccensis have been published by
Malaysian authorities38. The lack of official records does not necessarily mean that no legal harvest took
place, however, it does frustrate the quantification of any legal harvest.
37 The recommendations for the NDF methodology were presented to the 17th Meeting of the CITES Plants Committee as PC
17 InfDoc 4 (see www.cites.org/common/com/PC/17/X-PC17-Inf-04.pdf).
38 The annual reports of the forestry departments of the Federated Malay States makes passing mention of gaharu collection in
the 1910s, however the product was included in the 'Miscellaneous' category of production records and gaharu-specific statistics
are not available.
31
As a non-timber forest product classed as “minor forest produce” gaharu appears to have been subject to
somewhat less stringent rules governing harvest licences. The actual legal procedure for the harvest of
gaharu in the various States of Malaysia over the years is somewhat obscure. Prior to enactment of the
National Forestry Act 1984, forestry legislation in Peninsular Malaysia differed from State to State, but it
appears that the taking of minor forest produce, including gaharu from reserved forests were processed
through what was known as a Form II Licence. Under this arrangement, the gaharu collectors were
required to bring the produce to the nearest Forestry Department checking station for assessment of
royalty. All monies due to the State would be collected and the Form II Licence would then be issued. The
outturn of non-timber forest produce was classified under a ‘Miscellaneous’ category therefore products
such as gaharu cannot be identified in the Annual Reports.
One of the Agarwood shops, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur
While the National Forestry Act 1984 no longer provided for the issuance of Form II Licences, some State
Forestry Departments in Peninsular Malaysia (such as those in Kelantan and Terengganu) continued the
previous practice by substituting the Form II Licence with the Removal Pass (a document specified under
s 70(2) of the National Forestry Act 1984) for specimens of gaharu upon the receipt of royalty payments
from traders. However, this issuance of Removal Passes without reference to a licence or permit for
collection is not sanctioned by the National Forestry Act 198439. In this regard it was noted that not all
State Forestry Departments carried out this practice, and indeed the practice was usually not officially
sanctioned – it appeared to be a semi-formal practice carried out by Forest Rangers upon request by traders.
39 This practice is said to stem from provisions that existed in earlier State forestry enactments (Z. Mukshar, pers. comm. March
2006).
32
From the fact that there were no reported licences issued for the collection of gaharu, it can be concluded
that a substantial volume of gaharu collected in Peninsular Malaysia since the early 1990s may have been
‘legalised’ via the application of the Removal Pass system to facilitate the harvest of such produce which
was deemed to be appropriate as a temporary measure to overcome practical constraints related to the
nature of gaharu collection (which differed considerably from the nature of industrial logging which the
National Forestry Act 1984 appears to have been drafted to cater for primarily). This arrangement took
into consideration factors such as the uncertainty of Aquilaria trees containing gaharu, the sporadic
distribution of the species as well as humanitarian concerns regarding the welfare of rural communities
involved in collection (especially Orang Asli whose livelihood was dependent on collecting activities).
Despite the full formality of this system, it appeared that gaharu collection resulted in at least a nominal
income for the State Governments via royalty payments. However, royalty from gaharu was not reported
under a discrete category (being listed under the ‘Other Minor Forest Produce’ category), so statistics on
this State revenue from gaharu are not clear.
Following rising gaharu prices, the Malaysian government began to recognise the value the industry and
began to take a number of steps to support its development. The Malaysian Timber Council (MTC)
produced publicity material that noted “Malaysia has been a leading supplier of gaharu wood to Saudi
Arabia, with exports worth more than MYR50 million over the last five years” (Anon., 1998b). By the
early 2000s, the State Governments and FDPM began to investigate ways in which to regulate the gaharu
industry in a more co-ordinated manner. The Malaysian Delegation to the 15th meeting of the CITES
Plants Committee (Anon., 2005d) reported that a special committee comprising of all State Directors of
Forestry was set up in June 2004 at Forestry Department Headquarters, Kuala Lumpur to come up with
Standard Operating Procedures for the harvest of gaharu. In 2005, these procedures were adopted for use
by all the States in Peninsular Malaysia to control the harvest, trade and processing of Aquilaria spp.
(Anon., 2005d; Anon., 2005e). The salient points of the Gua Musang Guidelines included the following
regarding the issuance of licences for the harvesting of gaharu:
i) A deposit of MYR10 000 (approximately USD2632 at 2005 rates) is imposed on each licence
approved;
ii). Harvest quota is set at 500 kg of wood-chips per month per licence;
iii). A royalty rate of 10% ad valorem per kilogram is charged;
iv). Licensee is required to supply 3,000 Aquilaria seedlings per year to the State Forestry
Department;
v). Aquilaria trees with diameters less than 20 cm are not allowed to be harvested;
vi). Aquilaria trees which bear flowers and fruits are not allowed to be harvested; and
vii). Licensee is required to submit a shuttle return to the State Forestry Department on a monthly
basis in respect of the amount of gaharu harvested (Anon., 2005d).
The Guidelines also detailed suggested requirements for the issuance of licences to trade in gaharu,
including the following:
i). All gaharu traders are only allowed to purchase Aquilaria products from the contractors
/licensees registered with the State Forestry Department;;
ii). All gaharu traders are required to maintain a log book showing the amount of gaharu
purchased from the contractor and sold to the manufacturer; and
33
iii). All gaharu traders are required to submit a shuttle return to the State Forestry Department on
a monthly basis in respect of the amount of gaharu purchased and sold (Anon., 2005d).
Furthermore, the Guidelines also detailed requirements for the issuance of licences to process gaharu
(primarily in respect to distilleries). The requirements for manufacturers of gaharu oil included the
following:
i). A manufacturer is required to apply for a valid licence from the State Forestry Department;
ii). A manufacturer is required to maintain a log book showing the amount of gaharu purchased
and processed;
iii). A manufacturer is required to submit a shuttle return to the State Forestry Department on the
monthly basis in respect of the amount of raw gaharu purchased and the amount of processed
gaharu oil sold; and
iv). A manufacturer is required to obtain a CITES permit from MTIB for any exports of gaharu oil
(Anon., 2005d).
Despite the adoption of these procedures, field observations in September 2005 did not reveal that the State
Forestry Departments had begun to implement the various provisions (see below). However, it was noted
that at the time of the National Workshop in March 2006, the Kelantan State Forestry Department was
reported to be in the process of issuing a licence for the collection of gaharu. All the other States were
reported to be taking action to implement the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and looking into
possibilities of strengthening and improving the procedure.
Prior to independence in 1963, the North Borneo Forest Department Annual Reports (i.e. covering the
modern territory of Sabah) detailed the outturn of Minor Forest Produce (Standard Form VIII) that
included “incense and perfume woods”. Furthermore, prior to 1956, these reports included details of the
export of gaharu40. However, since Merdeka neither the Sabah Forestry Department nor the Sabah
Wildlife Department reported the issuance of any licence for the collection of gaharu. Nevertheless, the
Sabah Forestry Department has published statistics on the harvest and export of timber from Aquilaria
species (see Table 9). These statistics show that nearly 16 000 m³ of Aquilaria logs (< 16 000 000 kg, if
wood density < 1 kg m-³) had been harvested between 1982 and 2004, with nearly a quarter of that volume
being exported. It is not clear whether these logs contained any gaharu.
The Forest Department Sarawak reported issuing licences and receiving royalty for the collection of
gaharu prior to 1933. Since 1933, no gaharu collection licences have been issued, however the Forest
Department has issued collection permits upon payment of a fixed fee and has licensed the domestic and
international trade in gaharu (see Table 10). Dawend et al. (2005) noted only one valid permit for the
collection of gaharu in Sarawak (see Table 11). This permit was reported to have been issued to an
individual of Iban ethnicity based in the Serian District (Dawend et al., 2005). However, copies of permits
to collect gaharu that were presented at the Malaysia National Workshop on gaharu trade in March 2006
indicated that in addition to the Serian permit, collection permits had also been issued in the Belaga
40 From year to year, exports of gaharu were reported under various headings:- "Kayu Laka, Kayu Gaharu, etc."; "Kayu Gaharu";
"Kayu Gaharu (Aquilaria malaccensis Lam.)"; "Kayu Chendana"; and "Kayu gharu, barks and roots".
34
Table 9
Production and exports of Aquilaria spp. logs (in cubic metres) from Sabah
Source: Sabah Forestry Department Annual Reports
District41. In 2004, the Sarawak Forestry Corporation took over the processing of licences for the
collection, trade, import and export of gaharu; the licenses continue to be approved and issued by the
Controller of Wild Life.
41 The representative of the Sarawak Forestry Corporation made reference to two gaharu collection permits, viz.: Permit No.
04052 issued on 24 June 2004 to an individual from Uma Badang Asap, Belaga, for the "collection of protected plant"; as well as
Permit No. 04054 (which had recorded the collection of a total of 108 kg between July 2004 and April 2005).
35
Table 10
Revenue from gaharu reported by the Sarawak State Government in 2002 (in Malaysian Ringgit – MYR)
(MYR3.80/USD at 2002 rates)
Source: Dawend et al. (2005)
None of the Aquilaria plantations that had been established in Malaysia (see ‘Development of the gaharu
industry in Malaysia’, below) had yet to report the production of any gaharu. Therefore, the only known
legal harvest of gaharu in Malaysia was from Sarawak – the taxonomic status of which, as noted above,
has been claimed to be predominantly of Aetoxylon sympetalum (Browne, 1955; Anderson, 1959;
Anderson, 1980).
Illegal harvest
Overview of illegal harvest
Widespread illegal harvest of gaharu was continuing to take place throughout Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah
and Sarawak during the 2005-06 period that TRAFFIC’s research was being compiled. Evidence of
illegal harvest collected in the focal areas of Gua Musang, Kelantan and Maliau Basin, Sabah suggested
that this harvest was being carried out by locals as well as foreign nationals. Newspaper reports also
indicated that Malaysians were continuing to enter Brunei from Sarawak to harvest of gaharu illegally and
then smuggle it back into Malaysia for re-export.
Illegal harvest in protected areas
Illegal harvest was taking place in all types of forest, including protected areas. There appeared to be a
particularly significant amount of collection taking place inside areas that are totally protected by law. This
36
Table 11
Number of gaharu collectors and traders registered with the Forest Department Sarawak (2004)
Source: Dawend et al. (2005); Note: ‘App.’ = Application, ‘Im/Ex’ = Import/Export
is probably because the forest in these areas is usually more intact than elsewhere and also the
inaccessibility of most of these areas means that the level of enforcement personnel is generally low.
Collection of gaharu is prohibited in protected forests such as national parks and conservation areas. Field
research and newspaper reports indicated that widespread illegal collection of agarwood was taking place
in important protected areas such as Taman Negara National Park, Endau Rompin National Park, Kinabalu
Park, Maliau Basin Conservation Area, Crocker Range Park, Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary, Mulu
National Park, Royal Belum Park and Selangor Heritage Park (see Table 2, Appendix 5). However, the
federal authorities state that many of these reports have not been substantiated and are therefore
questionable (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, in litt. to TRAFFIC, 2007).
Illegal harvest methods
Illegal harvest was found to be mostly of the sub-lethal nature. Indeed, as noted, there are indications that
the Orang Asli (indigenous forest people of Peninsular Malaysia) and Penan (indigenous forest people of
37
Sarawak) routinely practice a sub-lethal harvest method (Yamada, 1995). Furthermore, an interview with
Thai collectors indicated that foreign collectors were also practising a semi-sustainable harvest method
whereby trees would only be felled if there were good indications that the trees contained high grade
gaharu. One distinction in harvesting methods between locals and foreigners was that foreigners were
generally not interested in harvesting low-grade gaharu for use in distilling oil.
Trans-national gaharu poaching
Lim Teck Wyn/TRAFFIC Southeast Asia
A 2004 report by Bernama, Malaysia’s national news agency, noted that the bulk of trans-national gaharu
poaching in Malaysia was organised by syndicates. “The syndicate makes all the preparation like
arranging transportation, lodging along the way and the immigration and custom clearance”. The
syndicates were particularly interested in carrying out harvesting operations in National Parks in Malaysia
as it was “almost risk-free to operate in Malaysian protected areas as patrols were minimal and there were
hardly any arrests” (Anon., 2004k).
Foreigners found encroaching on protected areas in Malaysia are often found in possession of the implements of
illegal gaharu harvest, including axes for chopping the tree trunk and awls for carving out pieces of gaharu
38
Enforcement
Effectiveness of enforcement efforts
In response to the increase in illegal harvest of gaharu in the 1990s, Malaysian authorities were noted to
have increased enforcement efforts. However, it was difficult to assess the effectiveness of these efforts.
Between 1992 and 2005 at least 197 gaharu-related arrests were reported (see Table 3). However, there
appeared to have been no decline in the prevalence of illegal collection. While illegal gaharu collectors
often possessed firearms, while forest rangers were usually unarmed. However, DWNP teams were
reported to regularly include at least one or two people equipped with firearms.
Additional law enforcement efforts
Newspaper reports suggested that Kelantan was the only State in Peninsular Malaysia which had posts to
register people collecting gaharu from the forests and to conduct checks when they enter and leave the
forest (Oorjitham, 2005). Indeed, it was reported that in 2005 the Kelantan State Forestry Department had
seized a substantial amount of gaharu wood chips at the Pos Kawalan Bio-Diversity Check Point in
Loging, Kelantan. Incentives for informants included 10% of the compound sum, and 1% of the value of
product seized.
The Forest Department Sarawak had also made a number of efforts to control the unlicensed collection of
gaharu in Sarawak. Signs in local languages such as Malay and Iban had been produced that warned of
the consequences of unlicensed collection: up to one year imprisonment and a fine of MYR10 000. One
striking example was reproduced by Victor and Rambli (1998: 122): A stop-sign encircling a photograph
of a man carrying a two-metre long piece of gaharu, the caption (in the Iban language42) warned of the
consequences of unlicensed gaharu collection.
In response to repeated incursions by Malaysian gaharu collectors, the Brunei Government set up a Special
Task Force comprising of Forestry Rangers, the Royal Brunei Police Force, the Royal Brunei Armed
Forces and several other relevant Government agencies (Malai, 2000).
Trade and use
Processing
The study recorded a number of gaharu processing facilities in Malaysia. Three gas-fired oil distilleries
were seen in operation in Kelantan. These included one in Rantau Panjang owned by a Malaysian but
managed by a Thai national. One in Tanah Merah was owned and operated by a Malaysian of Cambodian
descent. One in Gua Musang was owned and operated by a Malaysian. Other distilleries were reported to
be in operation in other States, including one in Pekan, Pahang, owned and operated by Cambodians43; as
42 "Ditagang nebang tauka bejual-beli utai tumbuh ti di jaga perintah enda belisin di Sarawak. Ditagang bejual-beli Kayu Gaharu
enda belisin! Ukum: 1 taun jil enggau ukum mata duit RM10,000.00". (Trade in protected plants requires a licence in Sarawak. It
is prohibited to trade in gaharu without a licence. Penalty: one year imprisonment or MYR10 000 fine).
43 A settlement near Pekan was established by Cambodian refugees in the 1970s, some of these people have since become
Malaysian citizens.
39
well as one in Setiu, Terengganu, owned and operated by a Malaysian. These distilleries were reported to
have had difficulty obtaining a licensed supply of gaharu and were reported to have been closed down
following enforcement operations by the Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Department (T. Marina, pers.
comm., 2006). There are also believed to be distilleries in Perak (including one wood-fired still), Johor,
Sabah and Sarawak.
The yield from these distilleries was in the order of 0.1%, i.e. roughly 1 kg of wood chips yields 1 g of oil.
However, distillation was considered a profitable enterprise as MYR1 (USD0.26) of chips could be
converted into MYR3 (USD0.79) of oil (Figure 5).
In addition to distilleries, a number of secondary-processing industries were noted. The gaharu powder
by-product was used by number of incense factories. These ranged from Chinese-style joss-stick factories
in Penang and Kuala Lipis, Pahang, to Arab-style incense factories in Kajang, Selangor. In addition, there
were a number of traditional medicine factories in Malaysia that claimed to use gaharu as ingredients.
Figure 5
Schematic diagram of the economics of gaharu distillation in Malaysia
1 man-week of
collection from
20 trees over 20
ha; from 500
trees spread
over 500 ha
licence area on
6-month rotation
½ gunny sack
(15 kg) chips
MYR80
100 litres of
water
No cost
1 still-week
2 cylinders
(28 kg) of gas
MYR32
1 tola oil
(11.7 g)
MYR300
100 bottles
of perfume
MYR20,000
7 kg
powder
MYR5
100 packets of
incense
MYR2000
or
1000 packets of
medicine
MYR5000
50 litres
hydrosol
MYR – Ringgit Malaysia (MYR3.8 = USD1 at 2005 rates)
Source: TRAFFIC research, Kelantan, 2005.
Trade chains
Kelantan
The trade chains in the three Malaysian case studies exhibited similar, yet distinct patterns. In the case of
Kelantan, collectors/primary traders were locals (primarily Orang Asli; but some Malays) who sold direct
to a distillery. The distilleries were owned by Malays – however, these were usually Malays of Cambodian
descent. The distillery acted as a primary processing unit for both wood chips and oil – at the distillery,
the higher grade wood was processed by further cleaning and carving; the lower grade wood was processed
for oil. The distillery sold both wood and oil directly to traders in Kuala Lumpur who then reportedly
exported the products to markets in the Middle East.
40
Figure 5a
Kelantan trade chain example
Source: TRAFFIC research, 2005-6.
Note: In this case, the distillery functioned as a central point for the trade in gaharu wood chips as well as oil
Sabah
The Sabah trade chain was more speculative, with a number of assumptions having to be made. What was
clear was the fact that there were both local and foreign collectors involved in harvest/primary trade. These
collectors often sold to ethnic Chinese traders based in Keningau or Kota Kinabalu. Goh (2006) notes that
buyers in the Pensiangan District in the south of Sabah sold to traders from Indonesia (the Pensiangan
Basin is upstream of East Kalimantan). Goh (2006) also notes that there were buyers who flew into Sabah
from Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and even Hong Kong. The bulk of this trade appears to be in
agarwood chips, however, there also was at least one distillery reported to be operating in Tawau, and that
distillery was reportedly linked with a foreign-based trader who also operated a retail outlet in Bukit
Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.
Sarawak
One case in Sarawak involved sales through middlemen as well as further processing of the oil in a
perfumery located in the Middle East prior to re-import for domestic sales of perfume (Botes, 2004).
Statistics from the Forest Department Sarawak indicated that the vast majority (71%, n=59) of gaharu
traders in Sarawak were ethnic Chinese; the majority of these based in the urban centres of Kuching and
Serian Districts (Dawend et al., 2005).
41
Figure 5b
Sabah trade chain example
Source: TRAFFIC research, 2005-6.
Figure 5c
Sarawak trade chain example
42
Domestic market
Very little local consumption of gaharu chips or oil for incense or perfumery was recorded in Malaysia
during the survey period. However, the domestic retailing of agarwood products catering to tourists from
the Middle East was growing44 with more than a dozen agarwood shops being established in Bukit
Bintang, the centre for Middle Eastern tourism in Kuala Lumpur (see Box 1). The price of one kilogramme
of top-grade agarwood on sale had risen from MYR3000 (USD790) in 1996 to MYR15 000 (USD3900) in
2006, with some traders quoting retail prices of above MYR20 000/kg verbally for ‘limited stocks’ of their
highest grade. These prices are among the highest prices ever recorded for Malaysia (see Figure 6).
However, as has been noted, analysis of pricing is hampered by a lack of a standard grading system. Such
a system would also be an essential pre-requisite for effective regulation and revenue collection45.
Although most gaharu chips and oil are believed to be exported, there appeared to be a considerable
domestic market in Malaysia for gaharu incense and medicine, particularly among the ethnic Chinese.
Incense had been reported as being the “primary” use of agarwood in Malaysia (Barden et al., 2000).
Current research findings supported this, with manufactured gaharu incense on sale in Malaysian-Chinese
prayer-article shops including many product ranges of sticks, cones, coils (both raised coils and flat coils)
and powder. These items were sold at a premium, with agarwood joss sticks roughly five times the price
of normal joss sticks (MYR20 (USD5.2) per packet, compared with MYR4 (USD1) per packet).
There was no evidence of gaharu use among the community of ethnic Indians in Malaysia. A survey of
five shops selling incense and oil at the Batu Caves Hindu Temple Complex, Selangor, (November 2005)
revealed a wide variety of “agarbatti” incense sticks manufactured both locally and in India, however none
of these products claimed to contain gaharu. LaFrankie (1994) observed that ‘Aquilaria agallocha’ was
sold in Indian spice shops throughout Malaysia for a MYR2.50 per 100 gm (USD10 per kg) – however this
finding could not be confirmed in the 2005-6 survey period.
44 In 2000, visitors from Middle East countries (predominantly Saudi Arabia, but also including visitors from Kuwait, UAE and
other Gulf States) numbered 21,000, doubling to 53,000 in 2001, and again to 114,000 the following year (Hong, 2005).
45 Malaysian Government agencies have already developed a number of grading systems for forest produce including logs (e.g.
Sabah's Log Grading Rules 1965 and Sarawak Log Grading Rules 1987) as well as rules for the grading of processed products (e.g.
Malaysian Grading Rules for sawn timber).
43
Box 1
Agarwood Retail in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur
A survey of four agarwood retail outlets in Bukit Bintang was carried out between September - October 2006. Following
a standard questionnaire, the proprietors of these outlets were interviewed regarding five aspects of their business: sources
of supply; prices; legal compliance; methods of trade; and the profile of consumers.
All four respondents were sourcing from within Malaysia, with two respondents also sourcing from overseas (supply
countries included Indonesia, Singapore,Viet Nam, Lao PDR and Papua New Guinea). All respondents stated that supplies
were becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Prices ranged from MYR100 per kg for the lowest quality wood chips to
MYR68 000 per kg for the highest quality gaharu oil (oil was sold by the tola, with prices of up to MYR800 per 11.7 g tola).
It was reported that these prices had more than doubled in the last five years in the face of a combination of increased
demand and dwindling supplies.
All stores had business trading licenses issued by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, however none of the respondents issued CITES
permits for their customers, many of whom were foreign nationals visiting Malaysia. Only one respondent knew that MTIB
issued CITES permits for agarwood46 . All respondents stated that they obtained their supplies through middlemen, with
two mentioning ethnic Chinese middlemen. Two respondents also stated that they obtained some of their supply directly
from Orang Asli collectors.
All respondents stated that their customers were mostly Middle Eastern tourists who visited Malaysia during the northern
hemisphere summer months (the so-called 'Arab Season'). Buyers included men and women, who spent on average between
MYR1000-2000 per transaction. Women were reported to be buying smaller quantities and showed a preference for
'mukholat' (gaharu oil mixed with other essential oils). In addition to the tourist trade, two respondents also stated that
they also operated wholesale exports to the Middle East with shipments valued between MYR10 000 to MYR50 000 per
shipment. These exports were reported to be made using courier postal services.
As noted by Ng and Burgess (2004), while the wildlife authorities do not oversee the sale of processed
medicines, such preparations are afforded some attention by the Ministry of Health. Indeed, there were
found to be more than 200 products that claimed to contain Aquilaria currently registered with the Ministry
of Health47. Of these products, 84 (41%) were a form of cough medicine known as ‘Su Her Pills’, with
33 companies having registered such pills with the Ministry. In addition, there were 16 brands of medi
cated liquor and 13 brands of stomach-ache medicine containing Aquilaria that had been registered
(Database of Drugs Registered Since 1985, Drug Control Authority (DCA), Ministry of Health Malaysia,
<www.bpfk.gov.my>, accessed on 9 December 2005). Furthermore, a number of designer fragrances
registered with the Ministry of Health had published promotional material that contained claims to contain
gaharu but did not print such claims on their packaging48.
46 MTIB has noted about 30 traders in the area and stated that it plans to advise traders of CITES procedures as well as hold
a capacity building workshop to increase the understanding of enforcement issues related to agarwood (MTIB in litt. to TRAFFIC,
2007).
47
The Ministry of Health officially prohibits the use of endangered species in medicines (Che Mohd Zin, 2003).
48
In this regard, many claims to contain gaharu probably refer to synthetic rather than natural ingredients. Burr (2002) notes
that real gaharu is too expensive to use in mainstream perfumery: "Big fragrance firms redraw the formula [for well-known
perfumes] to take out the expensive ingredients and substitute cheap ones." Synthetic gaharu was noted to cost 1/18th the price
of the original.
44
Figure 6
Trends in the price of top grade gaharu wood chips on sale in Malaysia (1880-2000)
Top Price in Malaysia (MYR/kg)
15000
10000
5000
0
1880
1890 1900
1910
1920
1930 1940
1950
1960 1970
1980
1990
2000
Source: Literature review (see ‘Background’ section) and field notes, 2005-6.
There did not appear to be significant use of gaharu by the ethnic Malay community apart from a very
limited use of oil as minyak attar (alcohol-free perfume that is popular among some sections of the Muslim
community). A recent study found that some Malays continue to use the services of traditional healers such
as bomoh, dukun and pawang (Norana et al., 2001); however the extent of gaharu use by these healers was
not determined.
Trade between Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak
Although domestic trade is not controlled by CITES, the wildlife legislation of Sabah and Sarawak requires
that the export of any CITES-listed species from these States (whether to Peninsular Malaysia or to each
other) be accompanied by an export licence issued by the Management Authorities of the respective States.
Export of any CITES-listed species from Sarawak to Peninsular Malaysia or Sabah does not require any
CITES Export permit under the State Legislation but it does require an export license as provided under
the Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998. In practice, neither Sabah nor Sarawak have reported any
intra-Malaysian trade of gaharu to the Peninsula. The amount of gaharu observed on sale in Kuala Lumpur
that was claimed to have originated in Malaysian Borneo appeared to have been shipped out of Sabah and
Sarawak in violation of State laws applicable to CITES-listed species.
45
International trade
Sources
Statistics on the international trade in gaharu to and from Malaysia were compiled from a number of
sources. These sources included the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DSM) (who derived their statistics
from the Malaysian Customs Department). The data from the DSM and Customs focused on trade under
HS Code HS 121190200, “Gaharu Wood Chips”. This code includes all forms of gaharu – not just CITESlisted species. The DSM statistics were compared with the statistics provided by the annual reports of the
various Malaysian CITES Management Authorities, including the Department of Wildlife and National
Parks (DWNP), the Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB), the Sabah Wild Life Department and the
Forest Department Sarawak. These statistics were also cross-referenced with CITES trade statistics
derived from the CITES Trade Database, maintained by the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring
Centre, Cambridge, UK (last updated on November 13, 2006)49. This UNEP-WCMC database was also
used to obtain statistics on the re-export of Malaysian gaharu to third countries.
Exports from Malaysia
Malaysian Customs reports that over 6 000 000 kg (6000 t) of gaharu were exported from Malaysia
between 1995-2005 (see Table 12a). In comparison, permits for the export of only around 3 000 000 kg
(3000 t) of gaharu were issued by Malaysian CITES Management Authorities during the same period (see
Table 12b). The statistical discrepancies suggest that in particular, between 1995 and 2002 only 42% of
total gaharu exports had CITES permits. However in 2003 and 2004 the volume of CITES permits issued
actually exceeded the volume of exports reported by Customs by a factor of seven. This dramatic shift was
most probably due to the fact that MTIB was issuing CITES permits for the export of gaharu under HS
Chapter 44 (which includes wood chips for general purposes not including perfumery). From 2003
onwards, the majority of gaharu exporters appear to have stopped declaring exports of gaharu under HS
Chapter 12 (which includes all wood chips for perfumery, including gaharu wood chips), switching their
declarations to HS Chapter 44, which is technically in violation of Section 133 of the Customs Act 196750
(see Figure 7). The mis-declaration as gaharu under HS Chapter 44 is most clearly seen by examining the
export statistics for 2002 and 2003 (see Table 12c). It is clear that while reports of CITES permits for the
export of gaharu more than doubled, the declared exports of gaharu wood chips under HS 12 declined
dramatically – however this decline was more than off-set by declared exports of generic wood chips under
HS 44.
49 A number of possible errors were identified and corrected: the 2001 record of imports of 283 587kg Aquilaria sp. "sawn
wood" from Malaysia reported by Germany was probably reported as "283,587" with the comma to be interpreted as a decimal
point; the 2003 record of imports of 20 000 kg Aquilaria malaccensis chips from Malaysia (origin "US") reported by Singapore was
probably an error for origin Malaysia; the 2003 record of imports of 300 kg Aquilaria malaccensis chips from Singapore (origin
"ML") reported by Saudi Arabia was probably an error for origin Malaysia ("MY").
50 The penalty for making incorrect declarations is a fine of up to MYR500 000 or imprisonment for up to five years or both
(Customs Act 1967, s 133).
46
Table 12a
Exports of Gaharu Wood Chips from Malaysia (kg) and CITES Permits Issued
Source: UNEP-WCMC CITES Trade Database (updated on 13 November 2006); Department of Statistics Malaysia (HS Code
121190200)
Table 12b
CITES permits issued by regional Malaysian Management Authorities for the export of Aquilaria chips (kg) (19952005)
Source: Malaysian CITES Management Authorities
Note: In 2005 11 litres of oil were exported from the Peninsula
47
Figure 7
Exports of gaharu wood chips from Malaysia (kg) – CITES permits vs Customs records (HS12)
Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia (HS Code 121190200); CITES Management Authority Annual Reports (DWNP,
MTIB, Forest Department Sarawak and Sarawak Forestry Corporation)
Table 12c
Exports of Malaysian wood chips to Singapore (kg)
Sources: UNEP-WCMC CITES Trade Database (Aquilaria spp.) Exports Reported; Department of Statistics Malaysia: ‘HS 44’
= Wood in Chips/Particles, Non-Coniferous (HS 440122000); ‘HS 12’ = Gaharu Wood Chips (HS 121190200).
MTIB has stated that it is aware of the current lack of controls over exports under HS Chapter 12 and has
suggested that action be taken by the end of 2007 for the relevant codes51 to be included in the Export
Prohibition Order of the Customs Act 1967. In the meantime, MTIB has pledged to cooperate with
Customs to controls exports under HS 12 on an administrative basis to ensure that the requirements of
CITES are met (MTIB in litt. to TRAFFIC, 2007).
Between 1995-2005 the bulk of gaharu exports from Malaysia reported to CITES were destined for
Singapore. Over this period 93% of exports were destined for Singapore. Direct exports to other countries
remained relatively insignificant (see Table 13). However, there does appear to be a trend for increasing
volumes of trade to be taking place directly out of Malaysia (see ‘Re-exports’ section below). In 2005,
destinations other than Singapore accounted for 27% of all exports.
51 These include the following eight-digit codes (for ASEAN countries):- HS 1211.90.95, HS 1211.90.99, HS 3301.90.90; as well
as the following nine-digit codes (for non-ASEAN countries):- HS 1211.90.200, HS 1211.90.900, HS 3301.90.100.
48
Table 13
Direct exports of Aquilaria chips from Malaysia reported to CITES 1995-2005 (kg)
Source: CITES trade statistics derived from the CITES Trade Database, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre,
Cambridge, UK (updated on 13 November 2006).
Figure 8
Average export value (price) of gaharu wood chips from Sarawak compared with that of all states in Malaysia
(1990-2000) (MYR f.o.b.)
Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia
49
Average prices of exports of gaharu wood chips reported to Customs are very low (less than MYR1 per
kg). These derived values for average prices indicate that either very low grade gaharu make up the bulk
of exports and/or that values of exports are under-declared. The absence of a standard grading system,
combined with the existence of value-based sales taxes and export duties could be considered to provide
an incentive for traders to under-declare the value of exports. It is also apparent that the price of gaharu
exported from Sarawak is consistently below that of the average price of all gaharu exported from
Malaysia as a whole (see Figure 9). This price differential is probably mainly due to the additional
transport cost involved in bringing gaharu to the main trading centres; however, it may also be due to
gaharu from Sarawak being mostly of an inferior grade or perhaps an inferior species to those of the
Peninsula (e.g. Aetoxylon sympetalum and Aquilaria beccariana could perhaps be considered inferior to
Aquliaria malaccensis).
MTIB notes that the value declared for exports of agarwood sawdust/powder averages around MYR5 per
kg, whilst, agarwood chips range from MYR200-700 per kg and oil averaged around MYR1600 per litre
(MTIB in litt. to TRAFFIC, 2007).
As noted (previously in section ‘Legislation governing harvest’), there is no specific category for gaharu
in the State Forest Rules in Peninsular Malaysia52, with royalties collected presumably being reported in
the open category (“other”). However, there does not appear to be any correlation between volume of
exports of gaharu and the collection of royalties in the “other” category between 1990-1994 (see Table 14).
Table 14
Value of Miscellaneous Forest Produce Compared with Value of Exports of Gaharu Wood Chips from Peninsular
Malaysia (MYR)
Source: Gan and Weinland (1996); Department of Statistics Malaysia.
Note: ‘Royalties’ refers to royalties collected for the “other” forest produce category; ‘Exports’ refers to exports of gaharu wood
chips from Peninsular Malaysia.
Exports from Sabah
The Forest Department of British North Borneo recorded the important position of gaharu prior to
Merdeka. Exports of gaharu from Sabah boomed in the early 1930s, with more than 7000 t being
exported in 1931 alone (see Table 15a). The quantity of exports of gaharu from Sabah may have been
52 For example in Pahang, the Forest Rules 1987 would include gaharu under an open clause of the Royalty Rate List: Sch II (ii)
2.11 (d) "Minor Forest Produce: Miscellaneous - Forest produce not mentioned above".
50
Table 15a
Exports of gaharu and lakkawood from Sabah (1930-1938)
Source: Sabah Forest Department Annual Reports
affected by over-harvesting or perhaps by the liberalisation of the non-timber forest product trade in
neighbouring Sarawak in 1933. Whatever the cause, the exports of gaharu collapsed in that year. The
collapse in exports took place in the face of prices rising from MYR0.004 to MYR2.57 per kg between
1932 and 1933, suggesting that over-harvesting was the cause. To a large extent, gaharu appeared to have
been substituted by lakkawood (Dalbergia parviflora), another incense wood.
Not all of the historical exports of gaharu from Sabah originated from the territory itself, much of them
being re-exports. Sabah was an important centre for the transhipment of agarwood during the British North
Borneo era. In 1949 at least MYR196 526 worth of minor forest produce passed through Tawau from Dutch
Borneo (now East Kalimantan) and consisted of numerous commodities including “garu wood” (Forest
Department 1949 Annual Report, p. 17).
Although nowhere near the level of the 1930s, a significant gaharu trade continued from Sabah after the
war. Between 1948 and 1963, the Forest Department reported the outturn of 12 294 pikul (737 640 kg) of
“incense and perfume woods” worth MYR349 646 (Forest Department Annual Reports). Between 1951
and 1955, 336 583 lbs. (152 992 kg) of these incense woods were exported as “Kayu Laka, Kayu Gaharu,
etc.” with a declared value of MYR365 654.
From 1956 onwards, details of the export of incense woods were not differentiated from “other minor
forest produce” in the Forest Department annual reports. However, gaharu-specific export statistics53
were published by the Sabah Branch of the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DSM) until the late 1980s.
Between 1973 and 1987 around 10 000 kg of gaharu were exported from Sabah. The destination of these
shipments was split fairly evenly between Singapore and Hong Kong, with a few kilogrammes destined for
Peninsular Malaysia. Over the same period, imports of around 3 500 kg were reported, mainly from
53 These statistics were reported under SITC (Rev 2) 292.402.00 (CCCN 12.07.200) "Garroo Wood Chips".
51
Indonesia, but also one or two shipments from India, Hong Kong and Australia. From around 1988 onwards
the export statistics for gaharu appear to have been grouped under a generic code rather than specifically
mentioned as in earlier years.
Since 1995, the Sabah Forestry Department reported exports of 18.88 m³ of Aquilaria logs from Sabah (see
Table 9). These logs appeared to have been exported without a CITES export permit as none of the CITES
Management Authorities have reported any CITES permits issued for the export of Aquilaria species from
Sabah.
Figure 9
Exports of gaharu wood chips from the whole of Malaysia (all states, including Sarawak) compared with exports
from Sarawak alone (1990-2000) (kg)
7 000 000
Malaysia
Sarawak
6 000 000
Volume (kg)
5 000 000
4 000 000
3 000 000
2 000 000
1 000 000
0
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
Source: Malaysian Customs Export Statistics reported by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (for total Malaysian exports) and;
Forest Department Sarawak Annual Reports (for exports from Sarawak alone).
Exports from Sarawak
Customs statistics suggest that almost all gaharu exported from Malaysia between 1990 and 2000
originated in Sarawak (see Figure 9). Indeed, Customs reported that gaharu exports from Sarawak
reached nearly 1 000 000 m³ annually (see Table 15b). Dawend et al. (2005) reported that in the year 2000,
a total of 1 296 500 kg of gaharu was exported from Sarawak, yielding MYR129 650 in levies for the State:
this income from gaharu was reported to have made up 46.8% of the total wildlife licensing collection for
that year. However, this volume of harvest did not appear to have been sustained, with gaharu-related
income in Sarawak declining to a mere MYR15 065 by 2002 (Dawend et al., 2005).
Despite the large volume of exports of gaharu from Sarawak, it is not clear what proportion of these
exports was from Aquilaria and what proportion was from Aetoxylon or other gaharu-producing taxa. The
apparent predominance of Aetoxylon in Sarawak has implications for the effective enforcement of CITES
since the Sarawak CITES Management Authorities (the Forest Department and the Sarawak Forestry
52
Table 15b
Exports of gaharu from Sarawak 1995-2002 (kg)
Source: Forest Department Sarawak CITES Annual Reports; Department of Statistics Malaysia (Customs data); Dawend et al.
(2005)
Corporation54) have claimed (particularly since 2004) that the State’s gaharu exports are derived mostly
from Aetoxylon sympetalum – which is not a CITES-listed species. In its CITES Annual Report for these
years (1998, 1999 and 2000), the Sarawak Forest Department noted that:
“Kayu Gaharu refers to woodchips of the following species Aquilaria malaccensis, Aetoxylon
sympetalum, Aquilaria becariana and Aquilaria microcarpa. It is very difficult to distinguish the
difference between these species once in the form of wood chips, thus all wood chips from the above
species require CITES permits.”
The Forest Department Sarawak reported issuing CITES permits for the export of more than 1,800 t of
agarwood in the three-year period 1998-2000: with annual volumes of 527,981 kg, 484,660 kg (31
permits), and 869,700 kg (50 permits) respectively. In 2002, only one permit for the export of 10,000 kg
was reported. There have been no reports of CITES permits issued since 2002 for agarwood (neither have
Customs reported any exports of gaharu since this date). The CITES Annual Reports (1998-2000) record
that permits for the export of agarwood were issued to seven companies. Representatives from three of
these companies that were reached successfully all responded that they were no longer dealing in
agarwood. The reason given was a lack of supply. Trade surveys in Sarawak in 2005 and 2006 revealed
five agarwood-trading companies in addition to those listed previously. The Forest Department reports that
one new licence to trade gaharu was issued in 2005 and 2006. One further company had an agarwoodrelated name, however it was not confirmed whether this company actually dealt in agarwood. Three of
these companies claimed to have agarwood in stock when contacted. The others stated that there were
difficulties in obtaining agarwood for the following reasons:
(1) The supply was controlled by “gangsters”;
(2) The Indonesian authorities had restricted the export of agarwood; and
(3) Suppliers tried to cheat on the grade/quality of agarwood.
54 In particular, the Security and Asset Protection Unit of the Sarawak Forestry Corporation.
53
Figure 10
Exports of gaharu wood chips from Sarawak 1925-2000
Source: Forest Department Sarawak Annual Reports 1925-2000.
Note: Forest Department Sarawak’s last available annual report was that for the year 2000.
Numerous sources (Chin, 1985; Dawend et al., 2005) suggest that the key reason for the difficulty in
obtaining agarwood was that most readily-accessible agarwood trees in Sarawak had already been
harvested.
However, a number of companies based outside of Sarawak claim to be dealing in Sarawakian agarwood.
For example, a KL-based company stated that it regularly imports agarwood from Sarawak. In addition, a
Singapore-based company claimed on its website to be a supplier of “superior grade aloeswood from
Sarawak, East Malaysia. Small in size, therefore can easily put them to censers to perfume your house”.
However, it noted that “Malaysia Jinko MLSJK-41 Price: $19.50 (4gms) Jinko55 (sinking type) from
Sarawak, East Malaysia. Very nice fragrance.” (viewed on 15 October 2006).
Re-exports of Malaysian gaharu
According to the UNEP-WCMC Database (13 November 2006), the vast majority (93%) of international
trade in CITES-permitted Malaysian-origin agarwood passes through Singapore. From Singapore,
agarwood is re-exported to other entrepôts as well as directly to a number of end-markets in East Asia and
the Middle East. The key secondary entrepôts are India (where Mumbai is a key trading location for
consumer markets in the Middle East); Hong Kong (which re-exports to Japan and perhaps mainland
China); as well as the United Arab Emirates, with Dubai being a key entrepôt for the entire Persian Gulf
region. Singapore reports re-exporting Malaysian gaharu to a total of 14 countries (and even re-exports a
certain volume back to Malaysia) (see Table 16).
55 Jinko, or jin-koh, is the Japanese term for agarwood or gaharu.
54
Table 16
Re-exports of Malaysian Aquilaria chips reported to CITES 1995-2005 (kg)
Source: UNEP-WCMC CITES Trade Database (as at 13 November 2006)
Imports into Malaysia
The Department of Statistics Malaysia reported imports of over 200 000 kg (200 t) of agarwood chips in
the period 1995-2004 (see Table 17). The main sources of these imports were Indonesia and Viet Nam.
However, Malaysian CITES Management Authorities have reported no imports of agarwood. However
Singaporean CITES Management Authorities report exports of 2976 kg of agarwood to Malaysia (during
the same period). Of a much lesser significance are imports of agarwood from China to Malaysia, with
Chinese CITES Management Authorities reporting 7 kg being exported to Malaysia. In addition, there
were informal reports of gaharu and profits from the gaharu trade being imported from Papua New Guinea
to Malaysia (Gunn et al., 2003; Gerber and Hill, 2005).
55
Table 17
Value (MYR) and volume (kg) of Malaysia’s international trade in gaharu wood chips
Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia (HS Code 121190200)
No imports of agarwood into Sarawak have been reported to CITES. However there was evidence of
agarwood being imported by unofficial channels (i.e. smuggled) into Sarawak from Indonesia and Brunei:
several individuals from Sarawak had been arrested for illegal agarwood collection in these two
neighbouring countries. Indeed, 34 Malaysian agarwood collectors had been arrested in Brunei between
1999 and 2006, with one collector being shot dead by the Brunei authorities (see Appendix 5; Liza, 2001;
Malai, 2003; Rol, 2003; Rol, 2005; Rol, 2006).
The majority of agarwood collected illegally in Brunei was reported to be sold to middle-men in the town
of Limbang, Sarawak. Indeed, the Sarawak Timber Industries Corporation (STIDC) reported that one
Limbang trader was engaged in a flourishing agarwood business in 2003 (Botes, 2004). This trader was
reported to be distilling agarwood oil in Limbang that was exported to the Middle East for perfume.
International trade in gaharu derivatives
The statistics in this section focused on gaharu wood chips, this category accounted for 96% of all trade
(for all trading Parties) reported to CITES (the other terms reported in the UNEP-WCMC CITES trade
database included the following: derivatives, dried plants, extract, live, logs, oil, powder, roots, sawn wood,
specimens, stems, timber, timber pieces). Of increasing importance in terms of production in, and export
from, Malaysia was gaharu oil. Exports of gaharu oil from Malaysia appear to have taken place without
CITES permits being issued prior to 2005. Furthermore, the fact that the present Customs code does not
56
have a specific category for gaharu oil makes understanding and controlling trade in this commodity more
difficult. Issuance of CITES permits for derivative products such as oil require a much more involved
chain-of-custody to ensure that the product came from a legal and sustainable source.
Development of the gaharu industry in Malaysia
Trial planting of Aquilaria
The Malaysian government has taken a number of steps to investigate the potential of establishing
Aquilaria plantations in the country. One of the first attempts to cultivate Aquilaria in was undertaken by
what was then the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in 1928 (Lok and Zuhaidi, 1996). However, natural
mortality caused the original population density of this stock of 833/ha to decrease to 31/ha by 1995 (Lok
et al., 1999). Today the FRI is the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), which has long
recommended the establishment of commercial Aquilaria plantations (Ng et al., 1985). The DirectorGeneral of FRIM was reported to have said that the herbal industry in Malaysia cannot continue to rely on
natural forests for supply and must turn to plantations (Oorjitham, 2005). Beginning in the late 1990s,
FRIM collaborated with a New Zealand research company, Industrial Research Limited, and established
trial planting plots with 2000 seedlings being offered for sale in 2006.
Following FRIM’s initiative, the Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia (FDPM) established numerous
trial plantings of Aquilaria throughout the Peninsula (see Table 18). The Sabah Forestry Department has
brought experts from the University of Minnesota who had previously successfully initiated cultivation
projects in Viet Nam, Thailand, Bhutan and Papua New Guinea56. Furthermore, the Forest Department
Sarawak was also reported to have established a number of Aquilaria trial plots both in situ and ex situ
(Dawend et al., 2005).
Table 18
Artificial propagation of Aquilaria in Malaysia
56
A workshop was convened entitled "Growing Aquilaria Trees and Producing Cultivated Gaharu (Agarwood): Prospects for
a new Economy in Sabah", 15 May 2006, Sepilok Forestry Centre, Sandakan.
57
Table 18 (continued)
Artificial propagation of Aquilaria in Malaysia
Source: Mohd Paiz (2006) unless specified otherwise; ‘FR’ = Forest Reserve, ‘’FD’ = Forestry Department, ‘p.’ = year planted,
‘Compt’ = Compartment
In addition to government initiatives, the private sector has also begun to invest in trial plantings in
Malaysia. Existing businesses recognised the need for the gaharu industry in Malaysia to develop and
diversify (Shukry, 2006) and at least one company had started planting Aquilaria by the year 2000 (Mohd
Haikal, 2006). Two businesses were reported to have teamed up to supply seeds for commercial farming
of the trees. In 2006 the joint venture was reported to have about 1.2 million saplings of between six and
eight months and hundreds more plants aged six years and above at a 313-acre plantation in Pahang.
Furthermore, Yayasan Sabah (the Sabah Foundation managed by the Sabah State Government) has
established nurseries and numerous trail plantings in a number of locations in Sabah (D. Alloysius, Yayasan
Sabah, pers. comm. 21 February 2006). It was also reported that one Sabah company established a trial
plantation of Aquilaria inter-cropped with oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) on a purely experimental basis.
There appears to be much interest in the possibility of planting Aquilaria for medicinal purposes as well –
China’s leading producer of traditional Chinese medicine (which has formed a joint-venture with a
Malaysian company) has said it will invest heavily in setting up planting centres “to protect endangered
plants” (Anon., 2001a).
Plant nursery companies have been quick to prepare themselves to meet the demand for increased planting
of Aquilaria. In addition to the seedlings being offered for sale by FRIM, a nursery in Penang was noted
to be offering 10 000 poly-bags of seedlings at MYR5 per bag. Furthermore, a businessman was noted to
be offering tissue-cultured saplings at MYR250 per plantlet with the vegetative material originating from
Viet Nam.
58
Research into inoculation treatments, or inducement of gaharu resin formation
In conjunction with the establishment of plantations, the Malaysian government has encouraged research
into the inoculation or inducement of the formation of gaharu. FRIM’s collaboration with Industrial
Research Limited made an unsuccessful attempt to develop the technology to produce known grades of
gaharu in a sustainable manner (Chang, 2000). In 2005, the Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology
Research (MINT) began a wide range of studies on various aspects of gaharu plantation and inoculation.
In April 2006 MINT hosted a seminar on the modernisation of the Malaysian gaharu industry in
collaboration with the Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation of Malaysia (MOSTI) and SIRIM
Berhad (the privatised Malaysian standards institute). The seminar noted that inducement technology in
Malaysia had yet to prove effective57.
Nevertheless, the Malaysian government remains particularly interested in biodiversity / biotechnology,
and the Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has publicly recognised the potential
of gaharu for as a valuable medicine and perfume (Koh, 2005). In this regard, the Malaysian Government,
through SIRIM Berhad’s “Incubator Center”, is providing grants and technical support to develop the
gaharu processing industry (Anon., 2006f).
57 A number of methods of inducement have been claimed to be successful (Jensen, 2004). Perhaps the most prominent method
is that developed by researchers from the University of Minnesota. Trials in Viet Nam have apparently resulted in a
commercially viable method to produce resin in plantation grown trees. This technique consists of boring holes in the trunk,
inserting a PVC tube and applying a solution of salts to accelerate the natural defence response of the tree. The University
website claims that the technique allows a sustainable yield of resin to be produced in relatively young trees (Blanchette, 2006).
The technique was first described at the International Agarwood Conference held in Ho Chi Minh City,Viet Nam from 10 to 15
November, 2003.While full details of the technique have not been published, a US patent for Cultivated Agarwood was registered
on February 1, 2005 (see http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6848211.html).
59
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Indicators of the research
The research carried out by TRAFFIC to date indicates that Malaysia is a particularly important producer
and trading country for all forms of agarwood, including chips, oil as well as processed derivatives such as
incense sticks and medicine. Products originating in Malaysia made up about 50% of the total reported
volume of agarwood declared in CITES trade internationally in 2005. This positions Malaysia as the most
important producer of agarwood in terms of CITES-recorded trade. The current development of
downstream industries, such as oil distillation, further strengthen Malaysia’s position in this regard.
Natural forests in all three regions of Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak) remain
important sources of agarwood in international trade. The results of forest inventories provide
encouraging assurance that a substantial stocking of Aquilaria trees remains. However, it is clear that, with
the exception of Sarawak, the State Governments have yet to formalise the collection management, the vast
majority of which remains illegal.
Sustainability of the gaharu trade in Malaysia
Malaysia, with its diversity of agarwood (gaharu)-producing taxa, and extant forest habitat, provides a
unique opportunity to promote the establishment of a sustainable gaharu industry. Further understanding
of trade dynamics and the development of an appropriate regulatory framework at local community, State
and national levels may enable the sustainable management and conservation of viable in-situ populations
and the establishment of ex-situ plantations. However, it is important to appreciate that the sustainability
of the gaharu trade in Malaysia rests on three major pillars of sustainable development agreed in the Rio
Summit in 1992: social sustainability, environmental sustainability and economic sustainability. There are
numerous issues relating to the stability of each of these pillars. CITES focuses primarily on
environmental sustainability – the survival of agarwood-producing taxa in the wild.
It was found that indigenous people continued to collect gaharu from natural forests throughout the
country in what appeared to be a sustainable non-lethal extraction system whereby low-grade gaharu was
extracted from a tree by chipping away a bit at a time, giving the tree a chance to produce more gaharu in
the intervening period of up to six months. In terms of the Malaysian national focus on managing its
agarwood resource, the importance of social sustainability of the gaharu trade should not be overlooked,
since questions of national security, national prestige, safety of workers, safety of users and the welfare of
rural communities come into play. In addition to the ecology of the trees, other environmental issues
include the survival of other dependent wild flora and fauna species; harvesting of protected animals and
plants by illegal gaharu collectors; the protection of gaharu habitat; and on the processing side issues such
as contribution to global warming and emissions control are of some relevance. From an economic
perspective, the maximisation of income to the State needs to be considered; employment; industrial
development; and the management of raw material supply are all causes for concern.
The numbers of foreign collectors entering (both legally and illegally) Peninsular Malaysia through its
northern border with Thailand gives rise to numerous concerns. Conversely, illegal gaharu collectors
entering Brunei from Malaysia does not help international relations, with Brunei newspapers alleging that
60
illegal agarwood collection “is worse than the illegal logging activities. The plunderers sneak into the
jungles and bore holes in the trees to get the resin, which is a valuable commodity in the market. Their
illegal activities are killing our trees slowly” (Malai, 2000).
Development of a CITES Non Detriment Finding (NDF) methodology
The CITES Scientific Authority for Malaysia (the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) is
nominally responsible for carrying out independent CITES Non-Detriment Findings for the export of any
CITES-listed specimen. While this Federal role has not yet been comprehensively activated for agarwood,
the Sarawak Forestry Corporation, a CITES Management Authority at State level, reported in March 2006
that it had made its own preliminary assessment of the sustainability of gaharu exports from Sarawak to
derive an annual export quota of 50 t – however, neither the Sarawak Forestry Corporation or Customs had
reported any exports of gaharu from the State at all since that assessment was made. Subsequently, in
December 2006, a non-detriment finding for Aquilaria malaccensis was prepared for Sarawak.
Working groups at a Malaysian national workshop in March 2006 assessed the management of Aquilaria
malaccensis in Malaysia using the generic risk assessment checklist developed by IUCN to assist CITES
Scientific Authorities in making non-detriment findings (NDFs). The results of this assessment are
displayed in the radar plot below (Figure 11). In summary, the point of most confidence lies in control of
harvest management, i.e., there is a perception that legal harvest is well managed. The positions of least
certainty point to protection, biology, national population trend, status of major threat, and confidence in
monitoring – indicating that the consensus among the experts gathered at the workshop was that these
sectors required additional research to plug information gaps and thereby reduce the level of risk in taking
management decision. However, the working groups felt that the checklist terms needed greater clarity for
their application to the particular characteristics of gaharu-producing species, and to the Malaysian
national context (Anon., 2006a).
A number of basic steps need to be considered in order to make a CITES NDF. These steps include
assessing the degree to which the international trade in a specimen affected the biological conservation
status of particular populations of that species; with an appropriate NDF step-wise process then leading
also to deriving an annual harvest limit accordingly, which would then inform the setting of an annual
export quota58. The 14th meeting of the CITES Plants Committee categorised Aquilaria malaccensis from
Malaysia as of “urgent concern”. The Secretariat proposed that, unless an NDF was carried out, the 54th
meeting of the CITES Standing Committee should recommend that all Parties suspend trade in all
specimens of Aquilaria malaccensis from Malaysia with effect from 1 January 2007 (SC54 Doc. 42). In
response to the requirement to set a ‘cautious quota’ Malaysia then presented an annual export quota of
200,000kg to the 54th Standing Committee – which provoked an additional request to clarify the
scientific basis of this export quota before January 2007 in order to avoid the recommended trade
suspension. The Secretariat subsequently accepted a clarification provided by the Malaysian CITES
Scientific Authority, which distributed the total export quota for Aquilaria malaccensis (wood chips and
58 See http://www.cites.org/common/com/PC/17/X-PC17-Inf-04.pdf for more detail on step-wise approaches to conducting a
NDF for agarwood-producing taxa.
61
Figure 11
Outcome of Gaharu Workshop Working Groups, 2 March 2006 – Plot of responses to questions in related to
gaharu-producing species
Source: Anon. (2006a)
powder) between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah (190,000 kg) and Sarawak (10,000 kg). In 2008,
Malaysia reduced its total export quota for A. malaccensis (wood chips and powder) to 180,000 kg,
composed of 170,000 kg (Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah) and 10,000 kg for Sarawak – a reduction that
indicates some level attention to monitoring of exports.
However, it is important to note that the calculation of these export quotas pertains to Aquilaria
malaccensis only, and does not address any of the other agarwood-producing taxa native to Malaysia. In
addition, the quota specifies wood chips and powder, and does not make any mention of agarwood oil, for
which substantial distillation facilities have been established in Malaysia and supplies are readily available
in the domestic retail market (e.g. Kuala Lumpur) for purchasing by foreign buyers. Conducting a more
detailed CITES NDF for all CITES-listed agarwood-producing taxa in the immediate future would likely
assist Malaysia in further assessment of management interventions towards a sustainable agarwood trade,
building on the approaches presented to the 17th Meeting of the CITES Plants Committee as document
PC17 Inf.4 regarding an agarwood-specific non-detriment finding methodology.
Implementation and Enforcement of CITES
As noted, difficulties in implementation and enforcement of CITES for gaharu have been recognised as an
issue since the time of the original A. malaccensis proposal in 1994. Indeed, gaharu oil and powder are
certainly not readily identifiable as CITES-listed specimens. The CITES Plants Committee has considered
a proposal that gaharu oil and powder be exempted from trade controls (CITES PC12 Doc. 9.1), however
this proposal has yet to be taken forward.
62
Under CITES Article I(b)(i) “Specimen” means: any plant, whether alive or dead”; and (iii) “in the case of
a plant: for species included in Appendices II and III, any readily recognizable part or derivative
thereof specified in Appendices II and III in relation to the species”.
Most parts and derivatives of CITES-listed agarwood-producing taxa in trade cannot be readily recognized.
This is particularly the case with the derivatives oil and powder, but it would also take expert ability to
differentiate agarwood chips or pieces derived from CITES-listed species from pieces of non-CITES
species (such as Aetoxylon sympetalum). Thus it is safe to say that most parts and derivatives of agarwood
in trade are not readily recognizable59. Nevertheless, all significant production of agarwood from
Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah is from Aquilaria species, therefore in practice difficulties in
distinguishing between CITES and non-CITES species should not arise in these regions of Malaysia.
Given the spirit of the Convention60 and the precautionary principle61, it would be prudent to decide
whether or not to enforce CITES provisions on all agarwood specimens, even those not from CITES
agarwood species – the key questions being whether (1) failing to do so would endanger species with
extinction, and (2) doing so would be ‘cost-effective’.
Although the Parties to CITES have yet to make such a decision, the Malaysian authorities (particularly
Sarawak) applied the Precautionary Principle in the issue of CITES certificates for agarwood specimens
prior to the listing of the genus. The application was made implicitly in Peninsular Malaysia and
explicitly in Sarawak where the possibility that gaharu specimens could be non-CITES species (such as
Aetoxylon sympetalum) did not prevent the specimens from being exempted from the CITES permitting
system for exports. This difficulty has been somewhat addressed since all Aquilaria species are now on
CITES Appendix II, however the question of Aetoxylon in Sarawak still remains.
This study considers agarwood from all known agarwood-producing taxa. This is in accordance with
CITES Decision 13.62: “As the trade is in the readily-identifiable product of agarwood, studies should
include all known agarwood-producing taxa, not only the CITES-listed species.”
Furthermore, according to CITES Res Conf.9.6, “the term ‘readily recognizable part or derivative’, as used
in the Convention, shall be interpreted to include any specimen which appears from an accompanying
document, the packaging or a mark or label, or from any other circumstances, to be a part or derivative of
an animal or plant of a species included in the Appendices”. This provision is sometime referred to as the
“claims-to-contain clause”. This clause has a number of implications. In the first case, the existence of the
59 This raises the technical question of how CITES should be applied to such agarwood specimens, and has led to specific
projects on identification of agarwood-producing taxa (see Cannon et al., 2006).
60 Spirit of the Convention: the purpose of the Convention is "to ensure that no species of wild fauna or flora becomes or
remains subject to unsustainable exploitation because of international trade" and "to ensure that international trade in wild fauna
and flora is increasingly and consistently conducted at sustainable levels" (CITES Notif. No. 1999/76).
61
The CITES Strategic Vision through 2007 (CITES Decision 13.1) states that "Where uncertainty remains as to whether trade
is sustainable, the precautionary principle will prevail as the ultimate safeguard." The precautionary principle is also referred to
in CITES Resolution Conf. 9.24 (Rev. CoP14), the Resolution recognizes that by virtue of the 'precautionary approach', in cases
of uncertainty, the Parties shall act in the best interest of the conservation of species, it resolves that the Parties shall apply the
precautionary approach so that scientific uncertainty should not be used as a reason for failing to act in the best interest of the
conservation of species. The precautionary principle is also laid down in Principle 15 of the June 1992 Rio Declaration on
Environment and Development.
63
clause suggests that one avenue to enable the application of CITES to agarwood would be to require that
all agarwood specimens be labelled with sufficient taxonomic information to determine whether the
specimen was of a CITES species (e.g. gaharu specimens from Malaysia should be labelled either
Aquilaria spp. or Aetoxylon). Alternatively, a precautionary approach could be taken and all specimens
labelled ‘agarwood’ could be considered to be referring to CITES-listed species.
By the process of deduction, information on the provenance of a specimen should in most instances be
considered to provide the “circumstance” whereby a specimen can “appear” to be of a CITES species, even
though the specimen may not be prima facie “readily recognizable”. For example, an agarwood specimen
originating in a country from which all native agarwood-producing species were CITES-listed species
should be deduced to be a CITES agarwood specimen.
Many years of experience with CITES implementation show that the more parts and derivatives are
subject to controls the more difficult thorough and consistent trade reporting for CITES species is
becoming. It is therefore advisable to restrict CITES controls to those commodities that need to be
monitored in order to regulate international trade efficiently.
At its 14th meeting, the Plants Committee recommended that two main principles be followed as standard
guidance when drafting future # - annotations for medicinal plants in CITES:
a) Controls should concentrate on those commodities that first appear in international trade as
exports from range States. Those commodities may range from crude to processed material; and
b) Controls should include only those commodities that dominate the trade and the demand for the
wild resource.
Bearing this in mind, controls for agarwood should concentrate on logs (HS 44.03), chips (HS 12.11) and
oil (HS 33.01) as these are the forms of agarwood which first appear in international trade as exports from
Malaysia and other range States. This was specifically discussed at the CITES Agarwood Experts Group
Meeting in Kuala Lumpur in November 2006, leading to workshop outputs in the following detail:
a) All raw agarwood products (currently reported under a variety of classifications – wood chips,
pieces, logs, timber) should be covered by CITES controls.
b) Finished products, such as incense, perfume, should be exempted from CITES controls.
c) CITES coverage of partially processed agarwood products such as dust/powder and oil was
debated, but no conclusion was reached. It was pointed out that while these products are not always
reported in trade, that they represent a major segment of overall agarwood trade volume.
d) A similar lack of consensus characterised the discussions of medicinal products containing
agarwood.
e) It was also suggested that how CITES deals with fake/adulterated agarwood, and the so-called
‘black magic wood’, should be further considered (TRAFFIC Southeast Asia (Eds), 2007).
The outputs of the Kuala Lumpur meeting resulted in CITES Decision 14.138, directed to Parties involved
in the Agarwood trade and to the CITES Secretariat:
14.138 Parties concerned should identify and agree on which agarwood products and quantities
should be exempted from CITES controls. Once agreed, Parties concerned should agree which range State
64
will prepare and submit a proposal for amendment of the current annotation for agarwood-producing
species to be considered at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties.
Enforcement of State Enactments by Customs
Customs is a Federal agency in Malaysia governed by the Customs Act 1967. While State Enactments may
contain provisions related to international trade, these provisions are not automatically enforceable by
Customs. For the State Enactments to be enforced by Customs, an amendment needs to be made to the
Customs Orders. In Malaysia, legislative competence for imports and exports rests with the Federal
Parliament62. As noted, most of the legislation mentioned in the section ‘Legislation governing harvest’
have some provisions related to trade – however, most of the enactments regarding forestry, wildlife and
parks have been enacted by the various State legislatures and not the Federal Parliament. Therefore, the
provisions of these enactments regarding trade carry no weight outside the individual States and the
provisions cannot be enforced by MTIB or Customs officers. In particular, the wildlife enactments of both
Sabah and Sarawak make reference to restricting the export of CITES species – but they can only be
enforced by the wildlife officers of these States inside the boundaries of the States. For example, a Federal
Customs Officer operating in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) has no powers to control the
import or export of gaharu because the Customs Orders63 do not classify gaharu chips or oil as controlled
items. In early 2008, Malaysia enacted the International Trade in Endangered Species Act 2007, which in
its definitions of an enforcement officers includes “any officer of Customs as defined in Section 2 of the
Customs Act 1967” – but it is not clear whether this will address what is not specified under the Customs
Act as controlled items.
Despite the provisions of the Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998, there are no restrictions on the
international export of agarwood from Sarawak. This is because the Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998
is only a State enactment and restrictions on international trade require Federal legislation. In particular,
the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998 have yet to be ratified by the Customs Act 1967
(via inclusion in the Customs (Export Prohibition) Order 1998). Such ratification would be required
should the authorities wish to enable the enforcement of the provisions restricting the export of agarwood
from Sarawak. Presently, the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998 restricting the
international export of agarwood are beyond the powers of, or ultra vires, the Federal Constitution. It is
worth noting that the provisions of the Forests Ordinance 1958 relating to the export of logs and sawn
timber have already been ratified by the Customs (Export Prohibition) Order 1998 (Schedule 4).
Given the fact that Aquilaria and Gonystylus are both CITES-listed tree species, the responsibility for the
issuance of CITES export permits for these taxa was assigned to MTIB in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah,
the CITES Management Authority listed as the competent authority for timber and timber products in those
administrative jurisdictions (see Table 5). However, though Gonystylus is indeed traded mostly for its
timber, most of the trade in Aquilaria and Gyrinops is in gaharu – which is generally considered to be a
non-timber forest product. Indeed the Malaysian Customs regulations do not include gaharu as a timber
product.
62 While the Federal Constitution lists competence for legislation related to forestry on the State List (Sch 9, List II, 3(b)),
imports and exports are on the Federal List (Sch 9, List I, 8(b)).
63 Customs Duties Order 1996; Customs (Export Prohibition) Order 1998; and Customs (Import Prohibition) Order 1998.
65
This discrepancy has led to a number of complications. In particular, MTIB is constrained in its ability to
regulate the trade in agarwood products, because these commodities are largely outside its legislative
mandate. While the Malaysian Timber Industries Board (Incorporation) Act 1973 also covers a number of
non-timber forest products such as rattan and bamboo, there is no provision in the Act covering agarwood.
This means that MTIB would normally have no powers to enforce CITES for agarwood chips or oil.
While the Customs legislation classifies gaharu as a non-timber forest product, the Malaysian CITES
committee has designated responsibility for agarwood taxa to MTIB, the Management Authority with
responsibility for timber species. This arrangement has led to some difficulties, since MTIB’s enforcement
powers only cover Customs Codes for HS Chapters 14, 44 and 94 while gaharu products come
predominantly under HS Codes 12, 30 and 33. Despite the fact that MTIB has no powers to enforce CITES
requirements for agarwood, it has been issuing CITES permits to exporters upon request. This appears to
have led to exporters declaring exports of gaharu wood chips under HS Chapter 44 instead of HS Chapter
12.
In conclusion, it appears that CITES implementation for gaharu in Malaysia would benefit from increased
attention by the responsible CITES Managmenent and Scientific Authorities. The bulk of collection
appears to be illegal and some exports appear to be taking place without CITES export permits. Indeed,
there are significant gaps in the present legislative framework regarding the enforcement of CITES for
gaharu in Malaysia. However, the Malaysian government has recognised the importance of gaharu and is
also taking steps to close the gaps in the law to ensure the full implementation of CITES. In particular,
Peninsular Malaysia has developed a three-tiered Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to control the
harvest, trade and export of Aquilaria spp. Given Malaysia’s central position as an important producer
State, the recent initiatives of the Government of Malaysia to encourage the development of a sustainable
gaharu industry should be viewed positively. However, establishment of more extensive monitoring
frameworks for harvest and trade, particularly regarding compliance with national and State regulations
(including the SOP described above) will be critical to balancing levels of export trade with the
precautionary management of the remaining wild populations of agarwood-producing taxa in Malaysia.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To the Federal Government of Malaysia:
1). The Federal Government of Malaysia should amend the Customs legislation to ensure (i) that all
exports of agarwood chips, oil and powder require the prior issuance of a CITES export permit from the
relevant CITES Management Authority; and (ii) that all relevant wildlife trade legislation from Sabah and
Sarawak is adequately incorporated.
2). The Malaysian CITES Authorities should monitor the trade in agarwood to ensure that all trade is
carried out in compliance with the requirements of CITES, specifically with relation to the design and
implementation of robust Non-Detriment Finding assessments and adaptive management approaches. This
needs to be carried out not only for Aquilaria malaccensis, but for all agarwood-producing taxa native to
Malaysia.
66
3). Malaysia has already derived a basic formula to calculate a ‘cautious quota’ for A. malaccensis in 2007.
Because the information considered for carrying out a CITES NDF, as well as the setting of any harvest or
export quotas, is dependent upon updated information, establishment of a monitoring and verification
system that can guide adaptive responses to changing harvest and trade dynamics is essential. This could
be based upon all relevant Malaysian jurisdictions implementing the so-called Standard Operating
Procedure (SOP) for agarwood/gaharu.
4). The Malaysian CITES Scientific Authority should liaise with the State forestry authorities in Sabah and
Sarawak to carry out an inventory of the present standing stock of agarwood trees in those States. This
would build upon the information available in the 4th National Forest Inventory (NFI 4) collected in the
States of Peninsular Malaysia.
5). The Malaysian CITES Scientific Authority should coordinate a national-level assessment of the
conservation status of all agarwood-producing tree species in Malaysia.
6). The relevant Malaysian CITES Management Authorities should conduct a study, in collaboration with
Malaysian Customs, of the trade in agarwood/gaharu products (specifically wood chips and agarwood oil)
for personal effects, especially by tourists from the Middle East in order to consider a value- or
volume-based threshold for personal effects exemptions. Efforts in this regard will complement CITES
Decision 14.138, and prepare Malaysia to make substantive inputs to any proposed amendment to the
current Annotation #1 applicable to CITES-listed agarwood-producing taxa.
7). The relevant Malaysian CITES Management Authorities should institute systematic cooperation
activities with Police and Customs in Malaysia as well as bilateral discussions with counterpart agencies
in neighbouring trading countries with the objective of reducing the illegal trade in agarwood and
supporting the development of a legal and sustainable industry. Such activities will enhance Malaysia’s
already active engagement with its immediate regional neighbours under the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement
Nework (ASEAN-WEN), as well as its commitments under the ASEAN Regional Action Plan on Trade in
Wild Fauna and Flora. In addition, Malaysia’s trade with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, both
direct as well as re-exports of Malaysian country-of-origin agarwood from Singapore, should be given
special attention in terms of further developing producer-consumer co-operation.
8). The relevant Malaysian CITES Management Authorities should liaise with Local Government
Authorities to inventory commercial enterprises selling agarwood/gaharu products in Malaysia and create
awareness among these traders of the requirements of CITES and relevant national and State legislation in
Malaysia.
9). Malaysia should consider a national register of agarwood industry participants in an effort to formalise
the agarwood trade structure, and assist with more comprehensive monitoring of the trade. Such a register
could also be referenced to licensing systems for harvesters, collectors, processors, vendors and exporters,
depending on the regulations of at State level.
10).The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities and other Federal bodies should continue to
support initiatives for the establishment of agarwood plantations, but bear in mind the need to strictly
protect representative wild populations as seed sources to preserve genetic diversity. Clear definitions need
to be set for ‘cultivated agarwood’ or plantation-sourced materials, as this is a rapidly emerging component
67
of future potential supply in Malaysia that would need to be separated from, but informed by, wild harvest
regulations. Such plantations or cultivated production systems should be registered with relevant Federal
and State agencies in order to monitor (eventual) production output and enable the distinction of cultivated
or non-wild sources from wild-harvested agarwood.
To the State Governments of Malaysia:
11).All States of Malaysia should be encouraged to follow the examples by the States of Sarawak and
Kelantan and begin to regulate the gaharu industry by issuing licences and permits for the collection of
agarwood/gaharu on a sustained-yield basis.
12).The relevant Malaysian CITES Management Authorities should verify Removal Passes to ensure that
only specimens obtained by licensed or permitted collectors be issued with export permits. Implementation
of the Standard Operating Procedure by all States would strengthen the chain of custody from forest (pointof-harvest) to point(s) of processing and/or export, and would enable the distinction between legally and
illegally harvested agarwood.
13).At State level, a verification system for harvesting and supply chain management from production
areas (whether sourced from wild harvest or cultivated stocks), should be carried out by the relevant CITES
MA with the participation of the CITES SA, the State forestry authority and any licensed harvest/trade
participants. Such a system will ensure State-level contributions towards monitoring national quotas and
considerations of non-detriment findings.
14).The State Forestry Departments should continue to their initiatives for the establishment of
agarwood plantations. In addition, such plantations or cultivations should be registered (including an
inventory of trees and stocks) with relevant Federal and State agencies in order to monitor (eventual)
production output and enable the distinction of cultivated or non-wild sources from wild-harvested
agarwood. This should extend to oil distillation and other associated agarwood processing activities.
15).The State Forestry Departments should explore the possibility of setting up integrated agarwood
complexes where one company can be involved in the licensed collection, manufacturing and trade in
agarwood/gaharu products.
To the Parties to CITES:
16) The Parties to CITES should consider whether additional agarwood-producing species in trade, such
as Aetoxylon sympetalum which has been stated to be an important source of agarwood/gaharu in Sarawak,
should be included in CITES Appendix II in order to comprehensively harmonise international trade regulations;
17).The Parties to CITES should consider whether it would be more appropriate for agarwoodproducing taxa to be included in CITES Appendices under an annotation that specifies chips, oil and
powder as these are the forms of agarwood which dominate international trade – thus enabling the
concentration of enforcement efforts on products where they would be most effective. This
recommendation urges action under the current CITES Decision 14.138;
68
18). A glossary of terms should be developed that considers cultural aspects of the agarwood industry and
trade in order to allow better understanding between producers, traders and consumers, including
government regulators. Other definitions that need to be established are agarwood powder/dust, wood
chips, logs, wood pieces, oil, non-timber forest product, incense (as this refers to raw agarwood in some
cultures) and even ‘agarwood’ itself (separate from the tree). This recommendation urges action under the
current CITES Decision 14.140 and Decision 14.142.
69
REFERENCES
Official CITES Documents. (see www.cites.org)
CITES Resolution Conf. 9.24 (Rev. CoP14). Criteria for Amendment of Appendices I and II.
CITES Doc. 9.47. Consideration of Proposals for Amendment of Appendices I and II. Annex 3:
Recommendations from the Secretariat. Proposal 114 (Proposal IN16): Aquilaria malaccensis, inclusion in Appendix II.
CITES Conf. 12.8 (Rev. CoP13). Review of Significant Trade in specimens of Appendix-II species.
CITES PC12 Doc. 9.1. Definitions of the technical terms used in the annotations. Technical proposals for
the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties.
CITES PC14 Doc. 5.3. Strategic planning: review of the action plan of the plants committee.
CITES PC14 Doc. 9.2.2. Annex 2. Review of Significant Trade Aquilaria malaccensis (November 2003)
CITES Notification No. 1998/19. Geneva, 27 April 1998. Concerning: Vernacular Names of Timber
Species.
CITES Com.I 9.14 (Rev.). Summary Report of the Committee I Meeting. Ninth meeting of the Conference
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83
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Agarwood-Producing Species Native to Malaysia
Appendix 2: Vernacular names for agarwood and agarwood-producing species in Malaysia
Appendix 3: Laws
Appendix 4: Places
Appendix 5: Enforcement
Appendix 6: Decisions of the 13th and 14th Conference of the Parties to CITES
Appendix 7: Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) and CITES
Appendix 8: Information on seizures by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Peninsular
Malaysia
84
85
Sarawak
Johor, Sabah, Sarawak
Terengganu, Pahang, Johor
Pen. Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak
Sabah, Sarawak
Endemic to Gunung Tahan
Sarawak
Peninsular Malaysia
Sarawak
Pahang, Sabah, Sarawak
Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang
Sabah, Sarawak
Aetoxylon sympetalum Airy Shaw
Aquilaria beccariana Tiegh.
Aquilaria hirta Ridl.
Aquilaria malaccensis Lam.
Aquilaria microcarpa Baill.
Aquilaria rostrata Ridl.
Aquilaria sp. 1 Tawan (2004)
Enkleia malaccensis Griff.
Gonystylus affinis Radlk.
Gonystylus bancanus (Miq.) Kurz
Gonystylus brunnescens Airy Shaw
Gonystylus confusus Airy Shaw
Gonystylus macrophyllus (Miq.) Airy Shaw
Gonystylus xylocarpus Airy Shaw
Wikstroemia androsaemifolia Decne.
Wikstroemia polyantha Merr.
Wikstroemia ridleyi Gamble
Wikstroemia tenuiramis Miq.
13
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
1
1
0
PM
11
1
0
1
1
0
1
0
1
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
0
1
0
Sb
14
1
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
0
1
1
Sw
Number of spp.
237
36
1
10
6
0
1
7
5
9
0
12
2
0
7
117
4
19
1
HS†
App. II #1 (12/01/05)
App. II #1 (12/01/05)
Not listed
CITES Status
App. II #1 (12/01/05)**
App. II #1 (12/01/05)**
App. II #1 (12/01/05)**
App. II #1 (12/01/05)**
App. II #1 (12/01/05)**
Not listed
App. II #1 (12/01/05)
App. II #1 (12/01/05)
App. II #1 (12/01/05)
NE (2005)
NE (2005)
NE (2005)
NE (2005)
Not listed
Not listed
Not listed
Not listed
VU A1cd+2cd (Anon., 1997a) App. II #1 (12/01/05)**
VU A1cd (Anon., 1997a)
NE (2005)
NE (2005)
VU A1cd (Anon., 1997a)
NE (2005)
NE (2005)
NE (2005)
DD (Anon., 1997a)*
VU A1d (Anon., 1997a)
VU A1cd (ARWCSMT, 1996) App. II #1 (16/02/95)
NE (2005)
IUCN Status
Sources: botanical literature (Tawan, 2004; Turner 1995; Whitmore, 1973; Ding Hou, 1960; Airy Shaw, 1953; Burkill, 1935)
South East Asia Botanical Collection Information Network (SEABCIN) <herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk> downloaded 4 September 2005
Kuching Herbarium, visited on 16 February 2006.
IUCN Status: www.redlist.org (viewed on 2 December 2005); claims to agarwood production: Ng et al. (1997)
Asian Regional Workshop on Conservation & Sustainable Management of Trees, Viet Nam, August 1996
†HS: Number of herbarium specimens from Malaysia recorded in SEABCIN
*Previously VU (Walter and Gillett, 1998); FRIM has also listed A. rostrata as “endangered” because of rarity and geographical restriction (Ng et al, 1990)
**Previously App. III #1³ (6 Aug 2001)
Total
Distribution in Malaysia
Species
Appendix 1:
Agarwood-Producing Species Native to Malaysia
86
2
10
2
10
Neg
3
20
1
Phg
7
7
Png
1
10
Prk
1
7
1
Swk
1
16
Sel
1
6
3
Trg
7
117
4
19
1
Total
7
12
29
4
17
11
1
237
36
1
10
Note: ‘Joh’ = Johor, ‘Ked’ = Kedah, ‘Kel’ = Kelantan, ‘Kul’ = Kuala Lumpur, ‘Mel’ = Melaka, ‘Neg’ = Negeri Sembilan, ‘Phg’ = Pahang, ‘Png’ = Pulau Pinang, ‘Prk’ = Perak, ‘Sab’= Sabah,
‘Swk’ = Sarawak, ‘Sel’ = Selangor, ‘Trg’= Terengganu
Sources: South East Asia Botanical Collection Information Network (SEABCIN) <herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk> downloaded 4 September 2005 (Leiden, Kepong and Singapore yielded results)
85
27
Total
7
32
W. tenuiramis Miq.
W. ridleyi Gamble
2
2
1
W. polyantha Merr.
3
6
4
2
Wikstroemia androsaemifolia Decne.
1
7
5
0
1
5
G. xylocarpus Airy Shaw
G. macrophyllus (Miq.) Airy Shaw
G. confusus Airy Shaw
G. brunnescens Airy Shaw
12
5
9
4
G. bancanus (Miq.) Kurz
12
0
10
1
6
15
12
Sab
Gonystylus affinis Radlk.
Enkleia malaccensis Griff.
11
10
Mel
2
1
2
Kul
A. sp. 1 Tawan (2004)
2
5
Kel
0
1
A. microcarpa Baill.
6
Ked
A. rostrata Ridl.
10
Joh
A. malaccensis Lam.
A. hirta Ridl.
A. beccariana Tiegh.
Aquilaria apiculata Merr.
Aetoxylon sympetalum Airy Shaw
Species
Specimens of Agarwood-Producing Species from the States of Malaysia in SEABCIN Herbaria
Appendix 2:
Vernacular names for agarwood and agarwood-producing species in Malaysia
Name & variants
Language
Particular
Scientific Name
Gaharu
Malay
Resin
Lignum resinatum
aquilariae
gaharu anteru
Malay
gaharu buaya
Malay
Tree
Gonystylus bancanus
gaharu cempaka
Malay
Tree
Gonystylus brunnescens
Remarks
Gonystylus bancanus
gaharu melitan
Lit. crocodile agarwood (Airy
Shaw, 1953)
Gonystylus xylocarpus;
Amyxa spp.
karu-karu
Malay
Gonystylus confusus
gaharu sirsak
Wikstroemia polyantha
gaharu cengkeh
Wikstroemia tenuiramis
Karas
Malay
Tree
Aquilaria spp.
Angkaras, engkaras
Iban
Tree
Aquilaria beccariana
Kareh
Malay
Climber
Enkleia malaccensis
Kelembak
Malay
Resin
kalambah, kalambak
Anderson (1980)
bengkaras, kekaras, mengkaras,
tengkaras
'akar kareh hitam'; cf. karek
(Sumatra - CABI)
Crawfurd (1856)
Klim
Semang
Resin
cf. khlem (Khmer) Skeat (1906)
Klin
Stieng
Resin
cf. alim, halim in Sumatra
(CABI) Skeat (1906)
Bangkol (ba?kol)
Batek
Tree
Lye (2005)
Depu
Malay
Candan
Malay
W. androsaemifolia
Chandan
Malay
Gonystylus bancanus
Canëë
Kelantanese
Tree
Aquilaria hirta
c?h[µ“cc”]?
Temiar
Tree
Not known
also: tepu
(Wilkinson, 1955)
Roseman (1991)
87
Appendix 2(continued) :
Vernacular names for agarwood and agarwood-producing species in Malaysia
Name & variants
Language
Particular
Scientific Name
Ramin
Malay
Wood
Gonystylus spp.
Tabak
Asli/Malay
Aquilaria spp.
Remarks
'long tabak: Bland (1886);
Skeat (1900)
Melawis
Malay
Tree
Gonystylus spp.
Alieng
Bahnar
Tree
Aquilaria spp.
Skeat (1906)
Galup
Tapah
Tree
Aquilaria spp.
Burkhill
Sikat
Sekau
Penan
Donovan & Puri (2004)
Sekkau
Kenyah/Penan
s. tengun
Kenyah
s. baya
Kenyah
A. beccariana (?)
s. nyibung
Kenyah
A. malaccensis (?)
s. modung
Penan
A. microcarpa (?)
Kemandangan
?
kemendangan? Skeat (1900)
Kepang
Temuan, Malay
Antares (2005)
Tangala
Berawan
Anderson (1980)
Lako
Punan Tutoh
Anderson (1980)
Kopoyoh
Kadazan-Dusun
Goh, R. in litt. 9 April 2006
Tree
Konradus (2003)
Konradus (2003)
Generic terminology
Kayu
Malay
Wood
Minyak
Malay
Oil
Pokok
Malay
Plant
Tì ras
Malay
Heart-wood
Tanduk, tadak
Malay
Horn
Nibong
Malay
Lignum
e.g. kayu gaharu
English terminology: This study uses the term “agarwood”, which is the English common name used by
CITES.
88
Appendix 3: Laws
Laws for the Protection of Flora in Malaysia
Law
Specificity
Aspect controlled
FORESTRY
Federal Constitution
Enabling legislation
State list:- except with respect to the Federal
Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya,
agriculture and forestry, including Forests.
National Forestry Act 1984
Collection, processing
and conveyance
Trees and all parts or produce of trees; plants
including climbers and all parts or produce of such
plants
Collection and
conveyance
Minor forest produce; NB. A Circular specifically
concerning agarwood was issued by Forestry
Department Peninsular Malaysia Director General in
2005
Collection and export
Any produce of trees. A Circular specifically
concerning agarwood was issued by Forestry
Department Director in 1999 (JPHTN/KSN 10025/2(19) 5 October 1999, "Listing of agarwood
species (Aquilaria malaccensis ) on CITES
Appendix II". Aquilaria malaccensis is a
"prohibited species" in Forest Reserves (Schedule C
of the Forest Rules 1969 - effective 2 January 2004).
Gaharu is listed under Minor Forest Produce (Sched
II (h))
All parts and produce of trees
National Forestry (States of
Malaysia) (Adoption) Enactments;
State Forest Rules
Forest Enactment 1968 (Sabah)
Forest Rules 1969;
Forest (Constitution of Forest Reserves
and Amendment) Enactment 1984
Forests Ordinance 1958; Sarawak
Forestry Corporation Ordinance 1995
Collection, sale and
export
Environmental Quality Act 1974:
Environmental Quality (Prescribed
Activities) (Environmental Impact
Assessment) Order 1987
"Logging"
Plants
Concurrent list:- National Parks
National Parks Act 1980 ('West
Malaysia')
National Parks and Nature Reserves
Ordinance 1998 (Sarawak)
Collection
Plant life in national parks
Collection
Recognisable parts and derivatives of any plant in
national parks and nature reserves
State Environmental Enactments
(Sabah Environment Protection
Enactment 2002; Natural Resources
and Environment Ordinance (Sarawak
Cap. 84, 1958 Ed.))
PARKS
Parks Enactment 1984 (Sabah)
Taman Negara National Park
Enactments (Pahang, Kelantan and
Terengganu; 1938-1939)
Indigenous flora of Malaysia; any tree or plant or
any part of any tree or plant
89
Appendix 3: Laws (continued)
Laws for the Protection of Flora in Malaysia
Law
Specificity
Aspect controlled
National Parks Enactment 1989 (Johor)
State Park Corporation Enactments
(Perak, Selangor; 2003, 2005)
Any plant
Local Government Act 1976: Parks
(Municipal Councils) By-Laws
Any tree or plant
Wildlife Act 1972
Collection within Wild Vegetation within wild life sanctuaries
Life Sanctuaries
Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 Collection, sale, import Any part of any species of plant but does not include
(Sabah)
and export
any plant product that has undergone a process of
heat and drying treatment; a plant of a species
specified in Appendix I or II of the Convention
Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998
(Sarawak)
Collection, sale, import Aetoxylon sympetalum (kayu gaharu, gaharu
and export
buaya), Aquilaria beccariana (gaharu, engkaras), A.
malaccensis, A. microcarpa (kayu gaharu, gaharu
engkaras); all species of plants listed in Appendices
I and II of CITES. (Natives who legitimately need to
collect the forest produce of these plants for their
own use, are granted the right to do so without
obtaining a licence.)
Sarawak Biodiversity Centre Ordinance
1997
Sabah Biodiversity Enactment 2000
(Sabah)
Cultural Heritage (Conservation)
Enactment 1997 (Sabah)
National Heritage Act 2005
Tree or vegetation in heritage sites; flora of
Malaysia
90
Malaysia Laws of Relevance to the International Trade of Agarwood
Law
Specificity
Aspect controlled
Customs Act 1967
Customs Duties Order 1996
Sale and export
Federal list:- Trade, commerce and industry,
including imports into, and exports from, the
Federation.
HS 1211.90 200 "Gaharu wood chips", etc.
Customs Duties
(Amendment) (No. 5) Order
2003
Customs (Export Prohibition)
Order 1998
HS 44.03, 44.20
Customs (Import Prohibition)
Order 1998
HS 44.03
Customs Duties (Exemption)
Order 1988
Logs and sawn timber
Malaysian Timber Industry Board Export via Customs Act 1967
(Incorporation) Act 1973
Export: HS 44.03, 44.20; Import: HS 44.03
Procedures for the
Import/Transfer/Export of
Timber and Timber Products
dated 24 March 2002
HS 44.03, 44.20
Timber Export Bulletin 19/87
dated 28 December 2004
“Procedures for Trade of
CITES Listing Species –
Ramin (Gonystylus spp.) and
Karas/Gaharu (Aquilaria
spp./Gyrinops spp.)”
Trade procedures for agarwood-producing
species
Timber Export/Import
Procedures 24 March 2002
Forests Ordinance 1958
Collection, sale and export [via All parts and produce of trees
Customs Duties (Exemption)
Order 1988 - logs]
Wildlife Conservation Enactment Collection, sale, import and
1997 (Sabah)
export [not yet enabled by
Customs]
Any part of any species of plant but does not
include any plant product that has undergone
a process of heat and drying treatment; a plant
of a species specified in Appendix I or II of
the Convention
Wildlife Protection Ordinance
1998 (Sarawak)
Aetoxylon sympetalum, Aquilaria
beccariana, A. malaccensis, A. microcarpa ;
kayu gaharu, engkaras; all species of plants
listed in Appendices I and II of CITES
Collection, sale, import and
export [not yet enabled by
Customs]
91
OTHER LAWS (Applicable to the whole of Malaysia)
Concurrent list for Sabah and Sarawak:Agricultural and forestry research
Malaysian Forestry Research and
Development Board Act 1985
Research
Gaharu wood
Sale of Drugs Act 1952: Control of
Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations
1984
Manufacture, sale, supply
and importation
Drugs and cosmetics (including [inter alia]
any substance intended to be used on the
external parts of the body for the purpose of
perfuming them)
Factories and Machinery Act 1967
(Act 139)
Processing
Steam boilers, etc.
Environmental Quality Act 1974
Environmental Quality (Sewage and
Industrial Effluents) Regulations,
1979
92
Appendix 4:
Places and people connected with the agarwood trade in Malaysia
State, locality
Ethnicity
Details
Pahang: Kg. Putat, Tasek Bera
Semelai
1982-1985: traditional collection revived and prominent; lethal
collection common (Gianno, 1986; Gianno, 1990; Kruspe, 2004)
Pahang: Kenong Rimba
Batek
2004: Collection for traders in Kuala Lipis started in the 19th
century, present collection declining because supply is depleting
(Anon., 2004m)
Pahang: Taman Negara
Batek
Late 1990s: "The main source of cash income is commercial
extraction of forest products: primarily rattan and eaglewood or
gaharu. ... Rattan and gaharu traders have come to mark the
passage of calendar-time. Every three weeks the current trader
drives into the forest to pick up his shipments from a collecting
group" (Lye, 2005)
Pahang: Taman Negara (Kuala
Yong)
Batek
1999: said to believe that some of the Park officers wished them
to collect gaharu rather than work as tour guides (Nicholas,
2000)
Jakun
2005: Jakun from Rompin collecting in Belum and Taman
Negara (Faezah, 2005)
Pahang: Kampung Kedaik,
Rompin
Jakun
Badok Senikin, 42, when the fish harvest season ends, Badok
diversifies into the ethno-botany business by collecting herbs,
rattan and kayu gaharu. Badok travels some 30km down the
winding stretch of the Rompin river to source for the natural
produce. "There aren't that many people willing to get their
hands dirty to do this job. But it keeps my family going and I
prefer to live my life this way," he said. According to Badok, it
is not an easy job collecting produce from the wilds as material
is difficult to source. "That's why there are fewer people now at
my kampung. Most have migrated to the cities where they can
find less demanding jobs." Kampung Kedaik, said Badok, used
to have more than 100 inhabitants - but there are only six
families left now.
Pahang: Kg. Bantal, Sg.
Tembeling, Taman Negara
Malay
1996: The younger men go into the jungle to seek out kayu
gaharu (Albela, 1996)
Pahang: Temerloh & Jerantut
Jahut
c. 2000: "actively sought" (Almeida, 2002)
Pahang
Semai
c. 2000: "meaningful revenue" (Almeida, 2002)
COLLECTORS
Pahang: Rompin, Pekan, Kuantan Jakun
c. 2000: "gather to supplement income" (Almeida, 2002)
Pahang: Rompin, Kg. Kedaik
Jakun
2006: Alias Kuwi, 32, "selalu mendengar suara [bigfoot]
bersahut-sahutan di dalam hutan, tetapi ia sedikit pun tidak
mematahkan semangat Orang Asli untuk memasuki hutan EndauRompin bagi mencari kayu gaharu" (Ali, 2006)
Pahang: Chini Forest Reserve
Orang Asli
2002: Linggi Ali, 50 yrs, and three others (Anon., 2002b)
Pahang: Krau Wildlife Reserve
Temuan
2005: Temuan (C.Nicholas, Centre for Orang Asli Concerns,
pers. comm. 7 September 2005)
93
Appendix 4 (continued):
State, locality
Ethnicity
Details
Johor
Senimba
>1800: collected agarwood for the Malay Sultans
(Kathirithamby-Wells, 2005)
Johor: Endau-Rompin
Punan
2001: Kepayang Chantek or better known as Pak Sate has a
reputation for gathering kayu gaharu or fragrant eagle wood. A
good quality gaharu could soar up to RM600 per 100gm, but the
common ones will only sell for about RM5 to RM10 per kilo
(Aimi, 2001).
Sarawak: Tinjar
Kenyah
1970s: agarwood stocks depleted (Chine, 1985)
Sarawak: Baram
Penan
1970s: super grade A sold to longhouse middlemen for RM50100 (Hansen, 1988; Ritchie, 1996)
Malaysia
Thai
2004: "at least 1000 Thai agarwood collectors in Malaysia"
(Anon., 2004k)
Sabah: Sook
KDM
2000: 5/14 people interviewed collected agarwood (Judeth,
2000)
Sabah: Nabawan
KDM
Sabah: Kalabakan
KDM
2000)
2000)
MIDDLEMEN
Pahang: Kuala Lipis
Chinese
>1898: trading centre for gaharu for joss-sticks (Takeshi, 2000)
Pahang: Kuala Lipis
Arab
c2000: buying agarwood directly from Orang Asli (Anon.,
2004m)
Malay
1999: some Park officers acting as middlemen for Bateks
(Nicholas, 2000)
Sarawak: 'Cerava' (Kuching)
Spanish
RETAIL OUTLETS
Chinese traditional medicine
retailers
Chinese
Present in almost every town in the Peninsular, and all the main
towns of Sabah, Sarawak; majority of which sell some products
containing agarwood
Chinese incense retailers
Chinese
containing agarwood
Arab specialist agarwood
retailers/wholesalers
Arab
Present mainly in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur
94
Appendix 4 (continued):
State, locality
Ethnicity
Details
Johor
Senimba
>1800: collected agarwood for the Malay Sultans
(Kathirithamby-Wells, 2005)
Johor: Endau-Rompin
Punan
2001: Kepayang Chantek or better known as Pak Sate has a
reputation for gathering kayu gaharu or fragrant eagle wood. A
good quality gaharu could soar up to RM600 per 100gm, but the
common ones will only sell for about RM5 to RM10 per kilo
(Aimi, 2001).
Sarawak: Tinjar
Kenyah
1970s: agarwood stocks depleted (Chine, 1985)
Sarawak: Baram
Penan
1970s: super grade A sold to longhouse middlemen for RM50100 (Hansen, 1988; Ritchie, 1996)
Malaysia
Thai
2004: "at least 1000 Thai agarwood collectors in Malaysia"
(Anon., 2004k)
Sabah: Sook
KDM
2000)
Sabah: Nabawan
KDM
Sabah: Kalabakan
KDM
2000)
2000)
MIDDLEMEN
Pahang: Kuala Lipis
Chinese
>1898: trading centre for gaharu for joss-sticks (Takeshi, 2000)
Pahang: Kuala Lipis
Arab
c2000: buying agarwood directly from Orang Asli (Anon.,
2004m)
Malay
1999: some Park officers acting as middlemen for Bateks
(Nicholas, 2000)
Sarawak: 'Cerava' (Kuching)
Spanish
RETAIL OUTLETS
Chinese traditional medicine
retailers
Chinese
containing agarwood
Chinese incense retailers
Chinese
containing agarwood
Arab specialist agarwood
retailers/wholesalers
Arab
Present mainly in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur
95
Appendix 5:
Enforcement operations involving agarwood in Malaysia (or involving Malaysians abroad)
Date
Location
Case
Details
1989
Belum: G. Gebeng
Several Thais
Army patrol investigates report of agarwood
poachers (none found) (Fathol, 1998)
1992
Taman Negara
10 Thais
Arrested, carrying snares (Wan Shahruddin,
1998)
1995
Taman Negara
50-100 Thais
1995
Taman Negara
~12 Thais
Bateks alert DWNP that 50 to 100 Thai nationals
armed with shotguns were roaming Taman
Negara in search of agarwood. The intruders had
warned a Batek to leave the area in which they
were operating. The reports were passed on to
police by the superintendent of the national
forest. (Anon., 1995)
DWNP officers raid a camp of about a dozen
foreigners who fled into the jungle. This was the
first case of agarwood theft involving foreigners
according to Jasmi Abdul DWNP director of
research and wildlife management. (Anon., 1995)
1996
Taman Negara
14 (Thais & locals)
1999-2001
Taman Negara:
Several Thais
Merapoh, Kuala
Terengan and Kuala
Koh
PENINSULAR
MALAYSIA (NORTH)
DWNP officers effected arrest
Evidence of agarwood collectors was noted at all
three sites studied, with a total of around 30 cases
of collecting noted. Evidence of Thais (including
etchings, campsites and agarwood harvesting
activity) at all three sites, with at least half the
evidence of human activity in Merapoh belonging
to Thai nationals. (Kawanishi, 2002)
96
Appendix 5 (continued) :
Date
Location
Case
21-Oct-00
Kampung Sera in
10-15 Thais
Baling, Gunung Inas
near the MalaysiaThai border ("rich
with tepu (Aquilaria)
trees")
"Kem Jubah Hitam" a mere temporary shelter
used by Thai nationals intruding into the country,
in search of kayu gaharu (eagle wood)". He said
police learned of the existence of the "camp" near
Kampung Sera in Baling following investigations
late last month, after being informed by residents.
"We found 40 items around the area, including
Thai fragrant rice, belacan, ginger and dried
chillies. Some of the packets had Thai words
written on them. "We also found a nine-inch
chisel believed to be used in checking for gaharu
in the trees," Norian said. Based on
investigations, Norian said, police have
concluded the place was being used as a
temporary shelter by 10 to 15 Thais. He said the
presence of the agar wood seekers in the jungles
of the Malaysia-Thai border has been known for a
long time, and is not a threat to national security.
"But we have laws against such intrusion into our
forests and this comes under the jurisdiction of
the Forestry Department." (Anon., 2000)
2001
Taman Negara,
Tasik Kenyir,
Terengganu
Cut down gaharu trees, poachers are using guns
to kill protected animals. Their targets include
elephants which have been relocated and Sumatra
rhinoceros. MB requests Army assistance as
DWNP and Police inadequate to face armed
threat. (Anon., 2001d)
15-May-01
Perak: Sungai Lerik, Six Thais
Chenderiang
Police arrested six Thais for agarwood-related
offences (Anon., 2001e)
23-May-01
Kedah
Police arrested 4 Thais as they tried to drive
across the border in a taxi with smuggled
agarwood (Anon., 2001e)
24-May-01
Perak: Batu 9, Jalan Five Thais
Kinjang, Sahom,
Chenderiang, near
Tapah
23-Apr-02
Taman Negara, Sg. Six Thais, 33-53 yrs. Arrested, carrying 4 steel wire snares, 1 net, 4
Slim/Sg. Kemyam,
long knives, 13 knives for cleaning agarwood, 5
sharpeners, 9 saws. 1 year imprisonment for
illegal hunting (Anon., 2002a)
24-Oct-02
Kedah: Ulu Muda
Forest Reserve
Several Thais
Patrolling Malaysian soldier shot by a group of
agarwood collectors at about 2.30pm.The patrol
returned fire causing the group to retreat into
forests at the Thai border. (Anon., 2002c)
2002-2003
Taman Negara
50 Thais
In Taman Negara, 50 Thai poachers were caught
in 2002 and 2003. They were jailed as they
couldn’t pay the fine. (Chiew, 2004)
Several Thais
Four Thais
Details
Five more Thais were arrested for stealing
agarwood, bringing the total to 11. The men were
picked up in the jungle (Anon., 2001e)
97
Date
Location
Case
Details
2003
Perak
One Thai
Forestry patrol team makes arrest, court case
'pending' in Aug 2004 (Chiew, 2004)
2003
Pahang
One Thai
Forestry patrol team makes arrest, court case
'pending' in Aug 2004 (Chiew, 2004)
1-Aug-04
Belum: Sungai Salat Two Thais
two Thai gaharu poachers caught - to be charged
under NFA charged for taking forest produce
without a licence. The maximum fine is
RM50,000 or five years’ jail or both. One hailed
from the Prachantakham district in Prachinburi
province in central Thailand - a place known for
its notorious agarwood poachers. (Anon., 2004i)
Early 2004
Belum
Several Thais
"a few Thais" caught (Anon., 2004b)
Early 2005
Kelantan
Seven
Suspected poachers and gaharu harvesters
arrested (Anon., 2005b)
14-Sep-05
Kelantan, Gua
Musang
Two Thais (Sam
Two Thai gaharu poachers caught, convicted and
Khem Kam, Akdhik jailed 20 months. (Clerk, Gua Musang
Sak Suk Phu)
Magistrate Court, pers. comm. 2005)
1-Mar-06
Kg. Padang
Rambong, Baling,
Kedah
Evidence of agarwood collectors was noted
PENINSULAR
MALAYSIA (SOUTH)
18-Jun-04
Gunung Ledang
National Park
Several Thais
JNPC officers had stumbled on a group of Thais
extracting sandalwood at the Gunung Ledang
national park last week but could not arrest them.
"Our officers, however, seized some tools."
(Anon., 2004d)
23-Jun-04
Endau Rompin,
Suluh Keris
Three Thais
JNPC ranger encountered a group of three
foreigners in Suluh Keris in the interior of Endau
Rompin. They told the ranger that they were part
of a total of 50 who had split into ten groups of
five to extract gaharu. Police report lodged. This
was the first time JNPC had encountered Thai
gaharu collectors in the Park. (Anon., 2004d)
30-Jun-04
Endau-Rompin
One Thai camp
National Park, Bukit
Chegar
One camp found (Harny, 2004)
1-Jul-04
Endau-Rompin
National Park,
Sungai Salat and
Sungai Kisob
Two Thai camps
Two camps found about 5-km apart (Harny,
2004)
1-Jul-04
Endau Rompin
Five Thais
5 Thai men arrested on suspicion of stealing
gaharu (Anon., 2004h)
98
Date
Location
Case
Details
2-Jul-04
Endau-Rompin
National Park,
Sungai Taku, near
Kampung Peta
Seven Thais
(detained: one male,
44, Thambokfai
Phachandakrap,
Pakinpuri, Thailand)
One arrest. One camp found, near Sungai Taku,
some 15km away from the National Park's
administration complex. They also found four
axes and two plastic bags containing aloeswood
worth RM3,000. Senoi-Praq (aborigines) team
saw many more men running away as soon as
they became aware of the police presence. their
tents, clothes, food, four axes and wooden guns
suggest they were planning for an extended stay
in the forest believed to have split up into ten
groups of five men each while in the park.
Charged under NFA, 15 July 2004. (Harny, 2004)
4-Jul-04
Endau-Rompin
Six Thais (detained,
National Park, Kuala one male, 42,
Sungai Taku, 7 km Tambun Krong Jai
from Park HQ
Trak, Thailand)
One arrest. One camp found, 7 km from park HQ,
the arrested Thai men claimed that were
transported to each drop-off point in a van; and
for this particular expedition, he and his group
walked for three days and three nights into the
jungle. The two will face a charge under Section
15(1)(a) Forestry Department 1984 (Amendment
1993) for stealing gaharu from national park or
Government property. Under the Act, both face
fine not more than RM500,000 or jail to a
maximum of 20 years or both. They will also face
an alternative charge under Section 81(1)(d) of
the same Act for taking or transferring the wood
without permission and can be fined up to
RM10,000 or jailed a maximum of three years or
both. The two poachers pleaded guilty to charges
under forestry and immigration laws at the
Mersing magistrate’s court last week and will be
sentenced on Thursday (12 August 2004). (Siti,
2004)
20-Jul-04
Gunung Ledang
Two Thais, two
National Park, water Malaysians
plant junction
Nov 2005
Gunung Panti Forest Two Thais
Reserve, Kota
Tinggi, Johor
JNPC officers arrest two Thai agarwood
collectors along with two local men delivering
food supplies to them. The two Thais escaped,
the two locals were handed over to the Tangkak
police. (Harny, 2004)
Nature guide confronts two collectors chopping a
gaharu tree with axes - they claimed to be locals,
but were suspected to be from Thailand
14-Nov-06
Gunung Ledang
Five Cambodians
National Park, Johor
One Cambodian was caught collecting gaharu
while his four other colleagues escaped. (F.
Cheong, Johor Parks Corporation, pers. comm. to
TRAFFIC Southeast Asia).
99
Date
Location
Case
Details
Forest in
Tambuyukon,
Sabah. Mount
Kinabalu National
Park
Kinabalu Park,
Sabah
Several Thais
Prosecuted in Ranau district court for stealing
gaharu. (Leong, undated; Chiew, 2004)
7 Thais
Seven Thai gaharu collectors were reported to
have been caught in Kinabalu Park in 2000 (Goh,
2006)
SABAH
1999
2000
2000
Maliau Basin
>50 Indonesians,
Conservation Area, mainly from Kg.
Sabah
Pagalungan,
Kalimantan Timur
Maliau Basin staff discovered 11 camps,
"approximately 52 persons, most of which are
Indonesians (Kalimantan)" assisted by local
middlemen. "Likely that the actual number of
gaharu collectors entering MBCA is much
higher". Cases reported as follows: April 2000 (7
collectors on trail from Rafflesia Camp to
Bambangan Camp), July 2000 (group
encountered near Ginseng Camp), 16 September
2000 (two collectors caught near Study Centre
site), 28 September 2000 (13 persons from
Kalabakan encountered at Mile 53.5 Sapulut
Road), 28 October 2000 (Markus Mangasak and
4 ors. from Kg Sematalon, encountered near
Agathis Camp), (Sidkan, 2001)
2001
Maliau Basin
Conservation Area,
Sabah
Indiscriminate felling of trees throughout the
MBCA. Camp found 1.5 km west of Agathis
Camp (Henrik, 2001)
2001-2006
Maliau Basin
Indonesians
Conservation Area, (Kalimantan, Java,
Sabah
Lombok), Thais,
Sabahans
Maliau Basin staff reported that many agarwood
collectors continue to enter MBCA (Henry
Baindang, MBCA, pers. comm. 19 February
2006).
2-Aug
Poring, Sabah
Five Sarawakians
Caught stealing gaharu near Poring 16 months
jail (Leong, undated; Chiew, 2004)
4-Aug-03
Sabah
n/a
"So far there has not been any detected case
pertaining to illegal harvest or export of A.
malaccensis." (D. K. S. Khiong, Director of
Forestry, in litt. to TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, 4
August 2003)
2004-2006
Kinabalu Park and
Crocker Range Park
2005
Maliau Basin
Sabah Parks Manager (Enforcement) Ludi Apin
said there were seven cases within the Kinabalu
Park and Crocker Range Park between 2004 and
2006, and over 60kg of the resin was seized
(Goh, 2006).
Several Indonesians Reported to be supplying a middle-man in
Pensiangan from Maliau Basin (Colin Nicholas,
pers. comm. 2005)
100
Date
Location
Case
Details
31-Jul-05
Timbun Mata Forest Five Indonesians
Reserve, Semporna,
Sabah
9-Sep-05
Kg Malidan,
Crocker Range
National Park,
Sabah
2005
Kota Marudu;
Kunak
5.7 kg - sold in Sunday market by locals:
confiscated by Forestry Department, Police
(Andurus, 2006)
2005
Sandakan Market
307 kg confiscated by Forestry Department (Sim,
2005)
26-Dec-05
Munggis
12 kg confiscated
Indonesian agarwood collectors in the forest
reserve used a boat to transport the timber out
from the island before loading them onto a
waiting lorry at the mainland. They avoided
detection by carrying out the illegal activities
during the night or heavy rain. Recently, district
police detained five men in a roadblock at Jalan
Bugaya, who were found with gaharu, a protected
species, on the Land Cruiser they were traveling
in. The logs were estimated to worth around
RM5,000. (Anon., 2005c)
One Filipino (Ruben encroached into Crocker Range Park and illegally
Tandi Letta,
felled a tree 40.2 kg on 25 August Fined
Philippines)
RM2000 or 3 weeks jail (Anon., 2005a)
SARAWAK / BORDER
1991
Sarawak-East
Kalimantan Border
Several Indonesians Local collectors shifted to Malaysia after supplies
were exhausted in the Apo Kayan region of East
Kalimantan during 1991–1992. Van Valkenburg
(1997)
7-Dec-96
Kuching
n/a
Seizure/unlicenced exporter compounded
(Cheong, 1999)
18-Jul-97
Lundu, Kuching
n/a
Seizure/unlicenced exporter compounded and
reminded (Cheong, 1999)
Aug-98
Sarawak-East
Kalimantan Border
Several Indonesians In August 1998, villagers on the upper Bahau
River, East Kalimantan, reported that more young
men were going to Malaysia to collect gaharu (a
four-day walk away) (Wollenberg, 2001).
1-Nov-98
Taman Nasional
Several Sarawakians Individuals found crossing international border to
Bentuang-Karimun,
collect agarwood in the National Park (Anon.,
Kalimantan Barat,
1998a)
Indonesia
11-Nov-99
Brunei
Five Sarawakians
(Ana Lasong, 42,
Thomas Ahub, 21,
Jeffrey bin Ampoh,
23, Loris Ahub, 19,
and Stanley bin Akai,
21)
"entered Brunei illegally and started looking for a
rare bark of a tree called "kayu gaharu" which is a
main ingredient for making local perfume."
(Ignatius and Alizawaty, 1999)
101
Date
Location
Case
Details
13-Mar-01
Labi, Kuala Belait
forest reserve,
Brunei
13 Sarawakians (one police had spotted 12 more people in the said
male arrested, age
area cutting down the gaharu tree. But they only
17)
managed to arrest the defendant.a shoot gun, two
axes, one parang, a bag and a block of "Gaharu
product", measuring 2ft 3.5 inches in length and
1ft 9 inches in diameter. fined $800 or a month's
imprisonment in default (Liza, 2001)
1-May-01
Ulu Belait, Brunei
One Sarawakian
In possession of "equipment believed to be used
(Daniel Lengang, 26) for the consumption of 'gaharu' wood", three
months imprisonment for immigration offence
(Anon., 2001c)
5-Mar-03
Ulu Belait, Brunei
Two Sarawakians
("Bari"; Mulan Anak
Tipong, 20,
Limbang, Sarawak)
7-Apr-03
Kg Long Mayan in One Sarawakian
Ulu Tutong, Mukim (Anos bin Labu,
Rambai, Brunei
Lawas, Sarawak)
went to Limbang with 8 others where they met up
with a Chinese man named Ah Leng. From there,
they headed to Kg Medamit, Limbang intending
to go to the forest to collect sandalwood as
instructed by the man. Anos then proceeded to go
into Brunei territory through a jungle trek without
any passport or any valid travel documents on
him. 310 grams and was estimated at around
B$620 10 months in jail (Anon., 2003)
9-Apr-03
Ulu Sungai Medit,
Tutong, Brunei
Five Sarawakians
(Tinos bin Labu,
Ande bin Baso,
Liang bin Laboh,
Persi bin Paul and
Yulius bin Lalung,
Lawas, Sarawak)
3.1 kilos of the forest produce which currently
stands at a market value of $2,000 to $4,000 per
kilo. Entered via kg Medamit, Limbang, left
Lawas March 1, arrested on March 13, 10
months imprisonment (Malai, 2003)
Jun-03
Miri
n/a
Seizure (Encik Zainal, Sarawak Forestry
Corporation, pers. comm. 2005)
Police seized two axes, two 'juli', an equipment
used to collect 'kayu gaharu', a parang measuring
1 foot 2 inches (used by the deceased to attack
the police) and two plastic bags containing 'kayu
gaharu', "Bari" killed during arrest; Mulan: 3
months in jail for entering the country illegally
and another 3 months for collecting the forest
produce after failing to pay the [BRD] 3,000
fine, which the in default sentence to run
consecutively. (Rol, 2003)
102
Date
Location
Case
Details
9-Mar-05
Batu Apoi Forest
Reserve, Brunei
Ten Sarawakians
(Walter Pengiran
Kamoa, Richard bin
Lalong, Mohd.
Tajuddin bin
Abdullah @ Anthony
Chan, Roni bin Pala,
Liwi bin Yasaya,
Josiah bin Laban,
Victor Pengiran,
Agustin bin Udan,
Francis bin Asai,
Pada bin Uak and
Palus bin Laban,
originate from
Lawas, Sarawak).
2.869 kg of Aquilaria Beccariana, or in Malay
'kayu gaharu', On February 19 this year, the
defendants set off from Lawas in an unknown
vehicle through the Batu Sagnol Forest, Lawas.
After about an hour's drive, the defendants came
across a river bordering Lawas and Brunei. From
there, the defendants continued on foot into
Brunei.Batu Apoi Forest Reserve.Amongst their
belongings that were confiscated included ten
axes, one 'parang', ten pieces of 'selabit' (all
believed to be used for the collection of
sandalwood) and one plastic box containing
pieces of wood believed to be 'kayu gaharu'. six
months' imprisonment and three strokes of the
cane (Rol, 2005)
1-Jul-05
Ulu Sungai Belalong
Forest Reserve,
Temburong District,
Brunei
Two Sarawakians
(Usop Sinau, 64; and
son, 17; from Lawas,
Sarawak)
1.566 kg valued at between BRD 2000-4000.
charged with collecting Aquilaria Beccariana or
'Kayu Gaharu' on June 17 this year in Ulu Sungai
Belalong Forest Reserve, Temburong, which is an
offence under section 19 (d) of the Forest Act
(Chapter 46). Six months imprisonment, and
three strokes of cane for immigration offence.
(Rol, 2005)
2005
Sarawak
n/a
50 kg of gaharu en route to Peninsular Malaysia
seized by Sarawak Forestry Corporation
2006
Sungai Medit,
Mukim'Rambai,
Tutong district,
Brunei.
Ten Indonesians
Entered via Limbang. Imam Surji bin Suparno,
33, arrested, jailed 6-months, caned 3-strokes
(Rol, 2006)
6-Apr
Ulu Sungai Bang
Three Sarawakians
Kidan, Kg Buau in (Padan Laput,
Kuala Belait, Brunei Henrick Danor and
Satar Abd Rashid)
Three Malaysian men were each sentenced to jail
for nine months with five strokes of the cane after
pleading guilty to cutting trees
103
Appendix 6:
Decisions of the Conference of the Parties to CITES in effect after the 13th meeting
Agarwood-producing taxa
Directed to Parties
13.61 The DNA work currently being undertaken by the National Herbarium of the Netherlands under contract to the Secretariat should continue and should be aimed at investigating the options for the development of identification tools based on molecular analysis.
13.62 As the trade is in the readily-identifiable product of agarwood, studies should include all known agarwood-producing taxa, not only the CITES-listed species Aquilaria malaccensis, and the possible inclusion
of all agarwood-producing taxa in Appendix II needs to be discussed.
13.63 Further field research should be conducted on trade dynamics, including in the major importing and
re-exporting States and territories of Southeast Asia, East Asia and the Middle East.
Directed to the Secretariat
13.64 The Secretariat should invite IUCN to re-evaluate the threatened status of all agarwood-producing
taxa according to the IUCN criteria (Version 3.1).
13.65 The Secretariat shall:
a) assist in obtaining funding from interested Parties, intergovernmental and nongovernmental
organizations, exporters, importers and other stakeholders to support a capacity-building workshop on
trade in agarwood prior to the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties;
b) contingent on availability of external funding, cooperate with exporting and importing countries, as well
as significant re-exporting countries and relevant experts, to convene a capacity-building workshop aimed
at improving enforcement and implementation of the listing of Aquilaria malaccensis and other agarwoodproducing species;
c) in addition to basic enforcement and implementation issues, include in the workshop a discussion of
registration and labelling systems, types of agarwood products in trade and the potential for establishing
personal effects exemptions for each, and the usefulness of such approaches for effective implementation;
and
d) present at the workshop any new information from the Plants Committee on identification of agarwood
products in trade, as well as information that would assist in determining sustainable harvest levels and
making non-detriment findings.
104
Appendix 6a:
Decisions of the Conference of the Parties to CITES in effect after the 14th Meeting
Agarwood-producing taxa
Directed to Parties involved in agarwood trade and to the Secretariat
14.137
Parties involved in trade in agarwood should, in consultation with the Secretariat, identify funds and
produce identification materials for all forms of traded products under CITES control.
14.138
Parties concerned should identify and agree on which agarwood products and quantities should be
exempted from CITES controls. Once agreed, Parties concerned should agree which range State will
prepare and submit a proposal for amendment of the current annotation for agarwood-producing species
to be considered at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties.
14.139
Draft standardized units of reporting shall be considered at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the
Parties.
14.14
Parties involved in agarwood trade shall prepare a glossary with definitions that illustrate the content of
the amended annotations, the terms used and their practical application during enforcement and border
controls. The Secretariat should facilitate the preparation and production of these materials, and
strategies for incorporating them in training material.
Directed to Parties and the Secretariat
14.141
Parties and the CITES Secretariat will work with intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations
to seek ways to share information through the establishment of networks, organization of regional
workshops, capacity-building programmes, exchange of experiences and identification of financial
resources.
Directed to the Plants Committee and the Secretariat
14.142
In consultation with relevant intergovernmental organizations such as the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, the Plants Committee in consultation with the Secretariat should
draft a definition of non-timber forest products to be considered at the 15th meeting of the Conference of
the Parties.
14.143
On the basis of the work on non-detriment findings for agarwood-producing species, that has been
developed by TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and the Secretariat, the Plants Committee, in consultation with
range States and the Secretariat, shall develop principles, criteria and indicators for the formulation of
non-detriment findings for agarwood-producing species.
Directed to the Secretariat
14.144
The Secretariat shall assist in obtaining funding from Parties, intergovernmental and non-governmental
organizations, exporters, importers and other stakeholders to support a workshop aimed at strengthening
the capacity of Parties to implement agarwood-related Decisions before the 15th meeting of the
Conference of the Parties.
105
Appendix 7.
Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) and CITES
The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, popularly known as Harmonized System or
HS, is a multipurpose goods nomenclature used as the basis for Customs tariffs and for the compilation
trade statistics all over the world. The HS was developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and
was implemented on 1 January 1988 by the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity
Description and Coding System (HS Convention). The HS is maintained by the WCO through the
Harmonized System Committee. Currently 179 countries use it as the basis for their Customs tariffs and
for the collection of international trade statistics
The system comprises more than 5,000 six-digit subheadings in a legal and logical structure supported by
well-defined rules to achieve uniform classification. The HS classification structure consists of “Sections”,
“Chapters” (2-digits), “Headings” (4-digits) and “Subheadings” (6-digits). The HS headings and subheadings provide the building blocks for more aggregated product classifications, such as the Standard
International Trade Classification (SITC) classification of goods in international trade maintained by the
International Trade Statistics Branch of the United Nations Statistics Division64.
The preamble to the HS Convention refers to the importance of ensuring that the HS is kept up-to-date in
light of changes that may occur in patterns of international trade. The HS has been amended four times.
The first amendment occurred in 1992 and consisted mainly of editorial amendments. The second
amendment came into force on 1 January 1996. It incorporated substantial changes affecting about ten
percent of the nomenclature. The third amendment came into force on 1 January 2002 and the fourth
amendment comes into force on 1 January 2007. In future, the HS is intended to be amended every five
years.
The CITES Secretariat has had a long and close cooperation with the WCO, including the conclusion of a
formal memorandum of understanding. At one time WCO and CITES held regular meetings of a
WCO/CITES working group. This cooperation resulted in some of the amendments to the HS related to
the separate identification of goods “of environmental and social concern”. In particular, revisions of the
HS have incorporated new sub-headings to facilitate the monitoring and control of CITES species and
products thereof. The heading live animals (01.06) was split into 8 subheadings and six new subheadings
were added to the section “meat” (02.08 and 02.10); headings for swordfish and toothfish were added. The
revisions included suggestions from the CITES Secretariat to specify certain animal species in the text of
subheadings. The term “marine [or fresh water] mammals” was thus replaced by the expression “whales,
dolphins, and porpoises (mammals of the order Cetacea); manatees and dugongs (mammals of the order
Sirenia)”.
Despite these changes, there are numerous outstanding proposals for the WCO to specify additional taxa
in the HS. The Conference of Parties to CITES has repeatedly directed the CITES Secretariat to liaise with
the WCO to provide specific HS codes for taxa of particular concern. These taxa include sharks and shark
64 SITC Rev. 3 (1986) (ST/ESA/STA/SER.M/34/Rev.3, E.86.XVII.12) (<unstats.un.org>)
106
parts and derivatives (Decision 10.126); live seahorses, dried seahorses, live pipefishes (and pipehorses)
and dried pipefishes (and pipehorses) (Decision 12.56); as well as tortoises and freshwater turtles and for
products thereof (Decision 13.37). On a less formal basis, there have also been calls for specific HS codes
to be created for CITES tree species such as big-leafed mahogany and its value-added products; sea
cucumbers; and the Porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus).
There appears to be a degree of reluctance to incorporate additional species-specific codes in the HS. The
Twenty-second meeting of the Animals Committee held in Lima (Peru), 7-13 July 2006, noted that work
with the World Customs Organization had encountered “difficulties” and the CITES Secretariat was “not
optimistic regarding future changes to customs codes” (AC22 Inf. 3). Indeed, as early as 2001, the CITES
Secretariat said it felt it had “already done what it could” citing “practical difficulties” in making further
additions to the HS since it was “very difficult” to allocate codes to the products containing parts or
derivatives of CITES species; and therefore “the HS system had been applied to the maximum extent
possible to CITES specimens” (Anon., 2001g). In response to a request to include specific HS codes for
sharks, the WCO informed the CITES Secretariat that “there was no opportunity for further elaboration of
[shark species] identification codes within the Harmonized System, other than that the WCO could include
a single code for all [shark] species listed on CITES Appendices thus flagging up those species for customs
officers” (Anon., 2002d).
Due to the difficulties between the CITES Secretariat and WCO, some have suggested to include HS codes
for CITES species on national Customs codes. Individual countries have extended the six-digit HS
nomenclature to up to ten digits for national tariff purposes. National Customs codes have the advantage
of being able to be revised more frequently than the five-year interval of the HS.
107
Appendix 8.
Information on seizures by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Peninsular Malaysia
No.
Area
Year
Prosecute
1
H.S. Tekam, Jerantut
2001
3
Jailed 16month/person
2
Ulu Sg. Ketil, Gua Musang
2004
2
Jailed 1 night
3
Felda Mentara, Gua Musang
2004
1
Compound RM3,000.00
4
Bkt Pakoh,Aring, Gua Musang
2004
1
Jailed 5 thn
5
Felda Aring 5, Gua Musang
2005
4
Jailed 3 years 10 month and 2
strokes of rattan/person
6
Sg. Tanum, Merapoh
2002
2
Jailed 6month/person
7
KM 48 Jln.Gua Musang K.Lipis
2004
4
Jailed 18 months/person
8
Sg. Yu, Merapoh
2005
1
Compound RM1000.00
9
Bkt 7(Lipis-Merapoh)
2005
1
Compound RM3000.00
10
Sira Kuda, Temenggor
2003
4
Surrendered to the ATM ( Pulau
Banding )
11
H.S Ulu Muda
2004
3
Surrendered to the PDRM Daerah
Sik
12
Taman Negara
Merapoh)
2002
2
Jailed one year and 2 stoke of
rattan/person
13
Pasir Raja, Terengganu
2003
5
14
Taman Negara (Sg. Cacing & Sg.
Atok)
2003
125
(Sg.
Kalong
Fine
(a)
Jailed 6mths/person(2)
(b) Jailed
3mths/person(10)
15
Taman Diraja Belum
2004
8
16
Taman Negara (Sg.Relai)
2005
7
17
Banjaran
Bamboo)
2005
2
Titiwangsa
(OPS
3
18
19
Taman Negara (Terengganu) Sg.
Cacing
2005
Sg.Mentong, Tasik Kenyir
2006
2
(a) Jailed 20
months/person
(b) 1 prson; jailed 4 months
2 persons; fined
RM 4,500.00/person
3
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
For further information contact:
CITES Secretariat
International Environment House
11 Chemin des Anémones
CH-1219 Châtelaine, Geneva
Switzerland
Tel: +41-(0)22-917-81-39/40
Fax: +41-(0)22-797-34-17
Email: info@cites.org
Website: www.cites.org
The Director
TRAFFIC Southeast Asia
Unit 3-2, 1st Floor
Jalan SS23/11, Taman SEA
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Malaysia
Telephone: (603) 7880 3940
Fax: (603) 7882 0171
Email: tsea@po.jaring.my
October 2010
The Executive Director
TRAFFIC International
219a Huntingdon Road
Cambridge CB3 0DL
United Kingdom
Telephone: (44) 1223 277427
Fax: (44) 1223 277237

Wood for the trees: A review of the Agarwood (Gaharu) trade in

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